Business India

ABB to install solar invertors at 750 railway stations

Swedish-Swiss company Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) will install solar invertors at 750 railway stations across the northern region to reduce carbon footprint and energy bills, its Indian arm said on Thursday.

“We have won the order from the Indian Railways to provide solar invertors in north India to reduce dependence on conventional energy sources,” the firm said in a statement here.

As one of the world’s largest rail networks, the state-run Railways operates 12,500 trains, ferrying 23 million passengers daily and a whopping 8 billion annually through 8,000 stations across the country.

The 750 stations in the busy northern region are part of the most-used rail corridor in the world.

“As our solar inverters vary from 5 to 50 kilowatt in performance depending on the station size, the Railways can ensure uptime through remote management services,” the statement added.

The New Delhi-based independent power producer Azure Power Global Ltd will install the invertors at the stations.

ABB’s five-year-old production plant here contributes to 40 per cent of the country solar installations, as they are also used in the transportation sector.

“We have rooftop solar power solutions for infrastructure, commercial and industrial customers in cities across the country to lower energy costs and meet the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets,” said Azure Power Chairman and Chief Executive Inderpreet S. Wadhwa in the statement.

As tropical northern region has 300 sunny days, solar power is a natural alternative to conventional electricity, much of which is generated using coal.

“We have been an integral partner for the Indian Railways over the decades, providing technology from turbochargers to sub-stations. The scope and scale of this order is a testimony to our quality for such installations, used by millions,” said ABB India Managing Director Sanjeev Sharma on the occasion.

The Railways has a renewable energy generation capacity of 36 megawatt and plans to ramp it up to 1,000 megawatt by 2025.

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