ABB has contracted to provide inverters for solar systems at 750 railway stations in northern India to reduce dependence on traditional sources of energy. Indian Railways, which runs one of the largest railway networks in the world, carries more than 8 billion passenger journeys annually. The 750 stations are located in the busy northern part of the network, one of the most used railway corridors in the world. ABB recently reached a milestone of 5 GW of solar inverters installed, supplying some 40 % of India's solar power at approximately 13 GW. The company set up its solar inverter manufacturing facility in India in 2012.
ABB solar inverters for this project – TRIO and PVI series – vary from 5 kW to 50 kW in power rating. They will be connected to the ABB ‘Ability’ system, through which a user can access remote management services.
The solar installations themselves are being set up by Azure Power. Tropical northern India experiences abundant sunlight, with 300 sunny days per year, and solar power is a natural alternative to conventional electricity, much of which is generated using coal.
Indian Railways operates more than 8000 stations across the country and is looking at building solar plants to supply clean power for their operations. In the second stage the objective is a net zero energy concept whereby power is generated and consumed within the operations. The Indian Railways systemhas a current renewable energy generation capacity of 36 MW, and plans to ramp it up to 1000 MW.
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