Energy Conservation Initiatives

Indian Railways started energy conservation journey much earlier and at every stage took the benefit of best available technology, whether it was replacement of T-8 FTL by energy efficient T-5 & CFL fittings, provision of LED lights, energy efficient ceiling fans, occupancy sensors, use of star rated equipments etc. These are resulting into a saving of about average 3% of electricity as per assessment made by Bureau of Energy Efficiency for non-traction application during last three years despite about 5% increase in connected load. These efforts have been regularly recognized at national level and several prestigious awards were given to IR.

As a part of energy conservation drive, Indian railways has carried out energy audit of 448 facilities till March, 2015 and additionally, energy audits of 195 facilities has been carried out during 2015-’16. For moving ahead on energy conservation, IR has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ministry of Power and BEE for co-operation to improve Energy Conservation in IR in the presence of Sh. Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu,Minister of Railways and Sh. Piyush Goyal, Minister of State Independent Charge for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy (Picture 1). Additionally, an MOU between Railway Energy Management Company Limited and Energy Efficiency Services Limited for implementation of Energy Conservation projects over Railways was also signed with an aim to provide a frame work for promoting future solutions and facilitate Railways to bring a change in its energy mix.

As part of capacity building of railways staff on energy efficiency, “International Summit on Energy Efficient Technologies in Railways” was held on 06.11.15 at Taj Palace, New Delhi (picture 2) to share several energy efficient technologies adopted by railways across other countries and also to emphasize on energy management system in zonal railways and the IRGREENRI portal has been developed by Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) to disseminate the green initiatives adopted across Railways (picture 3).

Railway Board has issued directives to Zonal Railways to utilize LED tube light fittings and under Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP) Scheme, more than 10 lakh LED bulbs have been distributed to railway staff till September 2016. In addition, 1.68 lakh LED bulbs were installed by Zonal Railways in Railways stations and service buildings till now (pictures 4 & 5).

Some other measures implemented on the non-traction side for energy conservation are:

1. Replacement of tube lights with LED tube lights.
2. Replacement of 90 W ceiling fans with 60 W ceiling fans.
3. Automation of Pumps with GSM based techniques.
4. Use of energy efficient pumps.
5. Micro-controller based Automatic Platform Lighting Management System with segregation of 70% / 30% circuits.
6. Use of 3 stars and above labelled electrical products and equipment
7. Solar based LED lighting system for level crossing gates
8. Use of solar water heater in place of electric geyser.
9. Provide occupancy sensors in offices.
10. To takeup this goal of energy efficiency, IR have become a part of PAT scheme of BEE. Under this 22 Designated Consumers has been declared (16 Zonal Railways and 6 production units).
11. Policy issued for use of LED lighting for all Railway applications.

Energy consumption in Traction & Non-traction

The improvement of specific energy consumption in traction segment in last six years of Indian Railways is given in table #1 below and the energy consumption in non-traction in last five years is given in table #2 & figure #3,

IR-UNDP-GEF Project

This UNDP supported GEF financed project aims to-

• Develop a long-term energy efficiency and conservation programme to reduce energy consumption and emission of greenhouse gases in the Indian Railways.
• Develop institutional capacities and support technical training to enable the adoption of energy-efficient technologies.
• Implement proven energy-efficient technologies and measures.
• Pilot demonstration of energy-efficient technologies and measures to build capacity and confidence on energy efficiency.
• Enable greater knowledge sharing and learning on cost-effective technologies that can reduce GHG emissions.

Developments so far

• Strengthened the institutional capacity of Indian Railways by creating a Centre of Excellence (COE) on energy efficiency technologies and solutions at Indian Railway Institute of Electrical Engineering (IREEN), Nasik, Maharashtra. Under this project, IRIEEN has set up the training & testing facilities of pump, motor (picture 6), Solar cum wind hybrid system, HVAC performance, Compressor systems & Energy Auditing instruments lab and also developed the Computer Based Training (CBT) module on improving the energy efficiency of electrical appliances/equipments. The testing facilities will be used for energy efficiency courses of one week duration for practical energy performance training and CBT module is used for providing the one week training on improving the energy efficiency of appliances.
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• Under the institutional capacities and technical training component, 791 Railway officers/supervisors were provided training on Computer Based Training (CBT) module and practical training on improving the energy efficiency of electrical appliances/equipments at Indian Railway Institute of Electrical Engineering (IREEN), Nasik, Maharashtra and at National Academy of Indian Railways (NAIR), Vadodara, Gujarat.
• Developed energy audit guidelines, manuals, and procedures for most of the railways energy intensive operations (e.g. production units, traction substations, workshops, production units, maintenance depots and buildings etc.).
• Conducted the Energy auditing of 15 facilities which includes Railway stations, workshops, hospitals & building across Indian Railways systems to improve the energy efficiency & for energy conservation.
• Gap analysis was carried out for Indian Railways for identifying the opportunities for improving the energy efficiency and also to define areas for the implementation of energy efficient technologies and measures.
• Set up Technology Information Resource and Facilitation Desk (TIRFAD) at the Research Design & Standards Organization (RDSO), Lucknow Uttar Pradesh.
• Across India, electrical lights in 150 compartments in passenger trains, have been replaced with energy efficient LED lights. Maintenance costs have declined, lighting quality is much better and it’s expected that this measure will save over 4 million kilowatt hours.
• As the sun sets on Dadar railway station, located in India’s financial hub of Mumbai, platform 5 is distinct. The entire platform is lit with LED lights. The platform and reservation bookings areas are visibly brighter. On average, an LED light provides 50,000 burning hours compared to 5,000-8,000 from conventional lighting systems.
• The demonstration at Dadar, which witnesses amongst the highest passenger traffic in the state, is part of a new energy efficient, building management system implemented earlier this year. The intelligent building management system is a real-time, online monitoring tool that allows railway officials to know immediately when there is a problem in electrical power usage, monitoring consumption patterns, and allowing engineers to immediately take action.
• As the railways embarks on ambitious growth plans, it’s supported also by an online platform railsaver.gov.in developed by The Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) which provides updated energy data across 16 zones of the Indian railways. The information and analysis gathered through this platform will inform the Railways future strategies.
• CRIS has also designed & developed IRGREENERI website to disseminate the information regarding green initiatives taken by Indian Railways which was launched by Minister of Railways. The website will act as a knowledge sharing platform on green initiatives and best practices.
• Till August 2016, 47 Railway officials have been visited U.K., Australia, Germany & Spain’s “Centre of Excellence” for understanding the latest technologies/measures adopted on energy efficiency so that this measures can be replicated for Indian Railways.
• For embarking the effective usage of online platform i.e., railsaver.gov.in (portal), Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) has developed “Railsaver Mobile App”, which shall be used providing the updated energy consumption data of 16 zones of the Indian railways. This Railsaver mobile app were official inaugurated by Hon’ble Minister of Railways on International Conferenceof “ Decarbonization of IR -Mission Electrification” on 3rd November 2016, in New Delhi (picture 7).
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• To increase confidence of Indian Railways staff in application of various energy efficient technologies and solutions, new technologies and measures are being demonstrated to prove their applicability in the Indian environment.
• The various pilot projects have been adopted in Indian Railways, the details are as follows,
• 1. Optimal light control system over Delhi division.
  2. Smart sense & smart grid system at Baroda house, New Delhi.
  3. Provision of automatic light & fan control for New Delhi Railway station.
  4. Implementation of SCADA on New Delhi Railway station.
  5. Supply, fixing, testing & commissioning of retro-fitment of led lights in 150 non ac sleeper class coaches (gscn) of TL depot in Delhi Division.
  6. Provision of building management system for stations & Railway offices for implementing energy efficiency measures at Dadar station , Central railway.
  7. Automation of pumping arrangement at Ghaziabad , Northern Railways.
  8. Bay lighting in workshops & loco sheds in Northern Railways.
  9. Provision of 200 super energy efficient fans in Delhi Division.
  10. Installation of vvvf (variable voltage variable frequency) drives for lifts.
  11. Provision of solar pumps over Delhi Division.
  12. Automation of pumping arrangement at Jaipur Division, Northern western Railways.
  13. Demonstration of Energy Efficient Technology on IT platform through 500 AMR meters covering Delhi division, Northern Railway.