BENGALURU: The South Western Railway (SWR) has installed solar panels in 19 buildings, including railway stations, workshops and offices, with a total capacity of 3,605kilowatt-peak (kWp).Kilowatt-peak is the power that solar panels generate under standard conditions.According to statistics, the SWR Hubballi workshop tops in solar power capacity with 1,045kWp, followed by the Mysuru workshop (500) and the DRM office Hubballi (320). With 290 kWp, Bengaluru City (Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna) railway station has the maximum capacity among railway stations.The annual energy requirement of KSR railway station is 3.13 million units and about 13.9% of it is now being met by solar panels.Other major structures that have solar panels are: Rail Soudha Hubballi (250kWp), Krishnarajapuram Diesel Shed (240), Hubballi station (220), Mysuru DRM office(110), Mysuru station (100), Railway Hospital, Bengaluru (100), Central Railway Hospital, Hubballi (100), Hosapete station (100), Bengaluru DRM office (80), Yeshwantpur station (80), Chikjajur(20), Chikmagalur station (20), Birur (10), MEMU shed Banaswadi(10) and Chitradurga station (10).SWR officials said these solar panels generate about 3 million units per annum on an average, saving revenue of about Rs 70 lakh. “Energy generated by these plants ranges between two and four units per day per kWp, depending on the climatic conditions,” said E Vijaya, SWR chief PRO. She added that SWR hopes to meet the full energy requirement of Hubballi and Mysuru workshops with solar energy, making them carbon neutral.In addition to the 12 railway stations in SWR that have solar panels, it has identified 60 more stations where solar panels will be installed during 2019-20, increasing the total capacity to 4,685kWp, which translates to about 7 million units on an average per year, contributing 15% of annual energy requirements (other than for running of trains) of SWR.The annual energy requirement of SWR is about 47 million units, which includes 17 million units for Bengaluru division.Rooftop solar panels installed at platform 7 and 8 at Bengaluru City railway stationGermany offers tech help in e-bus projectIn a boost to adoption of electric vehicles, Germany has offered to provide $1 million technical help for the electric bus project. Deputy CM Parameshwara said an MoU will be signed soon in consultation with the transport minister. He said existing diesel buses would be phased out slowly. This will go a long way in reducing air pollution in Bengaluru and other cities. TNN

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