Indian Railways, the world’s fourth largest rail network, is to set up four bio-diesel plants to boost green energy production in the country.
The Minister of State for Railways, K.H Muniyappa, has announced that the first two 30-tonne capacity bio-diesel plants will be set up at Tondiarpet, Tamil Nadu and Raipur Chhattisgarh at the cost of over $5.44 million each.
After more than a decade of planning, Indian Railways entered into an agreement with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) in 2003 to plant, extract and blend the fuel into high-speed diesel.
For this, Indian Railways gave 500 hectare land in Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Jaipur to IOC for planting the saplings, which were expected to give 800 tonnes of bio-diesel.
“The aim has been to reduce the carbon footprint by using blended diesel in the locomotives and become self-sufficient,” a Railway official said.
The location of the remaining two plants has not yet been confirmed and the first two plants are expected to be commissioned by 2013.
As per a new railway policy, 10 per cent bio-diesel has to be mixed with diesel for use in locomotives and therefore Railways needs to have a higher stock of bio-fuel with an increase in diesel demand. But the bio-diesel will be only for captive use and not for commercial sale of the fuel.
Muniyappa added: “Further, solar photovoltaic (PV) modules and wind mill power plants are generally provided based on the availability of adequate sunlight required speed and density of wind, techno commercial considerations and are likely to be operational within next two-three years time subject to availability of funds.”
