The Railways are going to tie up with Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) and have them put up solar power generation equipment at their investment. The Railways will buy the power out of that. Putting up solar plants will not only produce renewable electricity for railways but will also save them from encroachments.
Enumerating the terms of the agreement to be signed between the two, Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Railways and Coal, said: “We have existing platforms that need to be expanding on both sides because we are going in for longer rakes. NLC will do the same, create a roof over the platform extension, and we will have a different rate of power for the investment they will be doing for that”
“The third thing we have agreed upon is that whenever we need the land, NLC will shift the equipment somewhere else. If it is during the payback period, NLC can shift it at the cost of the Railways,” he added.
NLC India’s has moved from an only lignite mining and power generation company to become an energy company. The company currently has a total power generation capacity (including joint ventures) of 4,301 MW.
The company aims to have a generation capacity of 16,673 MW with 3,990 MW coming from solar energy.
