Indian Minister of Railways and Coal Piyush Goyal has hinted that the Indian Railways will be issuing tenders for up to 3 GW of solar power capacity to be developed on its unused land, helping the department expand its solar footprint. Local media quoted Goyal as saying that the bidding process will soon be launched, even though he didn’t mention any exact timeline. State-backed mining company NLC India plans to bid aggressively for these solar projects. The company is aiming to become a serious player in the Indian renewable energy sector, Goyal said, and it is currently discussing the matter with Indian Railways. NLC India has 191 MW of renewable energy capacity today, which comprises 140 MW of solar and 51 MW of wind power. By March 2018, the capacity will increase to 300 MW. NLC India is planning to have a cumulative portfolio of 4,251 MW by 2025. “So almost 24% of their 13,700 MW will be renewable energy,” said Goyal. According to the NLC India website, it aims to have 3,990 MW of solar power capacity by 2025. Last year, Goyal, who was previously India’s Minister of New and Renewable Energy, had said that Indian Railways wants NLC India to set up solar power plants on vacant land to save it from encroachers. NLC was supposed to be setting up these plants and shift the equipment elsewhere if the Railways needed the land back. Railways would buy the clean energy generated by these plants, but NLC will be setting these up with its own money (see NLC India To Set Up PV Plants On Railway Land). Indian Railways is aiming to install 1 GW of solar PV capacity and 200 MW of wind power plants by 2020-21 across zonal railways and production units. Working with other agencies, it plans to set up 400 MW of PV through ground-mounted solar power plants (see Large Rooftop PV For Indian Railways). Anu Bhambhani is the Senior News Editor of TaiyangNews Write, follow the author.
India's state-owned railway company Indian Railways plans to issue tenders for up to 3 GW of solar power capacity. The projects would make use of the company's unused land, according to Minister of Railways and Coal Piyush Goyal. The development would expand the existing plans Indian Railways has to install 200 GW of solar PV capacity and 1 MW of wind power generation across its land by 2020-2200. The government-owned mining company NLC India, which is seeking to develop its position in the renewables sector, is expected to bid for the new contracts.