OREANDA-NEWS. August 13, 2015. Four Memorandum of Understanding ( MoUs) were signed between Ministry of Power , Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) and Ministry of Railways for Cooperation in the areas of Electricity Transmission , Energy Efficiency and promotion of Renewable Energy in Indian Railways here today in the presence of Minister of Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu and Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy, Shri Piyush Goyal. The MoUs provides a framework under which both parties may collaborate and cooperate for efficient, reliable and economical generation, transmission, distribution, trading, supply, marketing of electricity and energy efficiency in Indian Railways.

Speaking on the occassion, Shri Piyush Goyal said that this is momentous occasion which transcends three Ministries whereby a holistic view is being taken on energy , green energy & energy efficiency. Shri Goyal further added that these MoUs will cater the ambitious targets of lowering cost of electricity and consumption in railways and adoption of LED lighting on large scale. Complimenting Shri Suresh Prabhu, he said that today Indian railway is moving towards green energy and with this speed, will soon become one of the largest producers of renewable energy in the country. Shri Piyush Goyal informed that the Railways has ambitious targets of producing Renewable Energy and it will become largest Renewable energy producer . He added that all equipments will domestically sourced which will give boost to government’s programmes like Make in India & Skill India .

While addressing the audience, the Shri Suresh Prabhu said that as largest commercial transporter, Indian Railway feels responsible for working towards minimising emmission of green house gases and will become in near future “ Green Transporter”. He said that using clean fuel is as important as transporting goods and passengers since clean environment is the collective responsibility of all. Shri Prabhu also stated that the idea behind MoUs is to generate cheaper, easier and commercially viable renewable energy.

The areas of bilateral cooperation under the MoU are:

• Implementation of electricity and energy efficiency projects for Indian Railways.

• Cooperation for construction, operation and maintenance of transmission lines.

• Sharing of information, experience, knowledge and training of staff and officers of railways.

• Implementaiton of joint research or technical projects for achieving energy conservation in Indian Railways.

• Implementation of energy conservation projects for targeted achievement of energy savings in Indian Railways.

Ministry of Railways and Bureau of Energy Efficiency also signed a Memorandum of Understanding for implementation of energy efficiency projects in Indian Railways. The MoU between the Railways and the Bureau of Energy Efficiency would facilitate the identification and design of interventions (such as energy audits) for enhancing energy efficiency. It would also help in setting of targets for traction energy efficiency enhancement that the Railways would meet under the Bureau’s Perform, Achieve, and Trade programme.

A third MoU was signed between Energy Efficiency Services Ltd. (EESL) and Railways Energy Management Company Ltd. (REMCL) for implementation of energy efficiency measures in Railways buildings. The REMCL-EESL MoU would enable the two companies to work together to enhance energy efficiency in various Railway buildings, and also expand the Domestic Energy Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP) being carried out across the country by EESL, in Railway colonies. The first joint project of these two companies would be to upgrade the energy using infrastructure in Rail Bhawan within the next eight weeks so as to secure a reduction of at least 20% in the electricity consumption in the building.

On this occasion, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) & Ministry of Railways also signed a MoU to bring in a change in the energy mix and solarization of Railways.

Shri A.K. Mittal, Chairman, Railway Board, Shri Naveen Tandon, Member, Electrical. Shri P.K. Pujari, Secretary, Ministry of Power, Shri Upendra Tripathy, Secretary, MNRE, Shri Rajeev Mehrotra CMD/RITES, Shri Ajay Mathur, DG/BEE, Shri Saurabh Kumar, MD/EESL and other officers from Railway Board, Ministry of Power and NRE were also present on the occasion.