Solar Photo Voltaic Cover Over Platform (COP) at Vijayawada Railway Station-The capacity of solar plant installed on COP is highest over Indian Railways

An innovative Solar Photo Voltaic Cover Over Platform (COP) has been provided at Vijayawada railway station on Platform no. 4 & 5. The capacity of Solar Plant installed at Vijayawada station is 65 kWp, which is the highest capacity on Indian Railways installed for any cover over platform at railway stations. This is also the first railway station on IR to have installed capacity of more than 50 kWp Solar panels on COP. The cost of solar roof provided is of Rs 60 lakhs.

South Central Railway is always in the forefront in harnessing solar power duly adopting energy conservation measures and promoting the green environs. In this direction, several innovative concepts have been introduced by the Zone for Energy generation and conservation.

Vijayawada railway station implementing many such environment friendly measures is the recipient of ISO 14001: 2015 certification and secured 7th rank in third party audit being conducted on cleanliness of railway stations across the Indian Railways. As per the geographical and weather conditions, Vijayawada station is treated as hot and humid area which will benefit for harnessing the solar power immensely. Taking these circumstances into consideration, Railway Officials are exploring solar power to the possible extent to cater the power needs of the station area.

In line to this, high capacity Building Integrated Photo Voltaic (BIPV) solar plant of 65 kWp capacity Cover Over Platform has been provided at Platform No. 4 & 5 of Vijayawada Station, wherein the entire COP is made up of solar Panels without using any galvanized sheets. To install this solar plant, a total of 198 solar panels of each one with capacity of 330 Wp are erected directly on shelter structure covering the length of 33 meters.

The approximate power generation from this structure is around 1.06 lakh Electrical units and catering to the extent of 17 % of the power needs of the station thus resulting in saving of Rs 8.1 lakhs per annum. The solar panels thus provided on cover over platform is providing proper shelter to passengers apart from generation of power.  Plans are on hand to provide another such plant as an extension to the existing one.

Shri Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, SCR appreciated the efforts of Vijayawada Division Officials in harnessing solar power with available resources. He also advised the officials to provide such plants for tapping the solar power extensively. “These solar plants will help in reducing the expenditure of the zone towards power needs and also helps in promoting green environ”, he added.