The railways is going for its first public-private partnership (PPP) in a windmill energy project. The national transporter will be calling tenders for a 25-MW wind energy plant near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan soon.
The railways is expecting companies such as Suzlon, GE, Siemens, Goldwind and Encore to come forward for the project. The cost of the project is expected to be around R220-250 crore
The project will be undertaken by the newly formed Railway Electricity Management Company (REMC).
The railways has planned to generate 175 MW electricity through wind energy on PPP mode in phase-wise manner. The target for this year is 75 mw.
?The newly formed REMC, a joint venture of RITES and railways, will implement the project. Land for production of 25 MW of wind energy has already been identified near Jaisalmer. We are expecting some of the biggest names in wind energy to participate in the bidding,? a senior rail board official told FE. The railways is targeting generation of 10% its overall energy from renewable sources by 2020.
In the 12th five-year plan, the railways is expecting private investment of R6,000 crore in its energy projects, including thermal, gas, wind and solar plants.
The railways currently uses about 4,000 MW of power to operate its network. This is expected to rise by another 1,000 MW in next four years time. All its requirements are sourced from state-owned power distribution companies. The aim is to reduce railways? energy dependence from outside sources by developing largescale in-house capabilities that would also help in reducing the overall energy bill from current levels of R8,700 crore annually.
The national transporter has already commissioned its first wind mill plant of 10.5 MW capacity in Tamil Nadu in March 2009 to meet the major load requirement of Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Perambur, Chennai.
The railways is also planning to harness solar energy through PPP projects.
