Chennai Metro Rail commissions two rooftop solar power plants in city

Chennai: Chennai metro rail limited (CMRL) plans to commission a 8MW solar power plant by 2020 to generate more than one crore units of electricity for train and station operations and save up to Rs 2.54crore every year.

On Thursday, a 260kWp (DC) rooftop solar power plant was commissioned at Ashok Nagar metro station. Another 20kWp rooftop solar plant was installed at Mannadi metro station. With this, a total of 5.5 MW capacity solar power has been commissioned by CMRL.

In a release, CMRL said a total of 8MW plant is planned to be commissioned by 2020 and it will generate 1.16 crore units. This not only will save up to Rs 2.54 crore a year towards purchase of electricity, but also will help cut down on carbon emissions of up to 11,587 tonnes a year. “So far, CMRL has installed a total of 5.2MW capacity solar plants in metro stations and at Koymabedu depot. A 1.2 MW plant was commissioned recently at the depot,” the release said.