Delhi Metro, one of the most successful public transport systems in the world, plans to go fully green by 2021. The trains will run on solar energy and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has already received 27 megawatts (MW). The Violet line which runs from central Delhi ( Kashmere Gate) to Faridabad will be first to run on Solar energy. DMRC, the company which controls and manages metro projects of the city, has already received 27 MW from Rewa Solar power Project based in Madhya Pradesh and it will gradually increase to 99 MW. As of now, trains between Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium metro station and Central Secretariat station will run on solar energy.
“On average, DMRC would be given 345 million units (MU) of power from Rewa every year. We are likely to start receiving 99 MW solar energy from the 750 MW park in Rewa from May 2019,” said a DMRC official. The DMRC project was started by Atal Bihari Vajpayee to modernize the public transport in the city and soon it became a lifeline of Delhi.
Piyush Goyal, Minister of State for Power and Coal, played crucial role in brokering the deal between DMRC and solar energy company. He presided over the signing of power purchase agreement between Madhya Pradesh Power Management Company (MPPMC) and DMRC. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, and with the cooperation of all chief ministers of various states in the last three years, renewable energy has seen a growth of over 370 per cent. “As compared to 2,600 MW of installed solar power capacity in 2014, today in India, there is a total of 12,200 MW of installed solar power capacity and the country would achieve the 20,000MW solar power capacity target five years ahead of schedule by the end of 2017,” said Piyush Goyal.
The production and consumption of renewable energy is growing exponentially in the country.Recently, Power Minister R K Singh said that he has revised the target of renewable energy capacity addition from 175 GW to 227 GW by 2022. Globally, India stands 4th in wind power, 5th in renewable power and 6th in solar power installed capacity. Solar energy capacity has increased by 8 times from 2.63 GW in 2014 to 22 GW. Wind energy capacity increased by 1.6 times from 21 GW in 2014 to 34 GW.
India has made a great leap forward in the energy sector under the Modi government, as all the villages of India are electrified and its renewable energy sector has attracted investment of $42 billion in FY 14- FY 18. An analysis by International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) says that the renewable energy sector created 47,000 new jobs in the country in 2017, accounting for over 20 percent of 5 lakh new green jobs created globally.
Energy use in India has almost doubled since 2000, although per capita consumption is only around a third of the global average. Three-quarters of its energy demand is met by fossil fuels, a share that has been rising as households move away from the use of solid biomass (mainly fuel wood) to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for cooking. The growth in energy consumption is very important as it is one of the indicators of economic development. If the growing energy demand is met through fossil fuels, then it would be very harmful on the environment and on human health. Therefore, it is very important that investment in renewable energy gets prioritized.