Khanewal
Pakistan Railways joined the elite club of forward looking government departments after its Multan office of divisional superintendent installed equipment to manipulate sunlight, converting it into electricity and cutting annual electricity expenses by Rs 2.52 million.
Installed at a cost of just over Rs 4 million, the solar system has started generating 60KW power enabling Railways to bypass 8100 electricity units it used to consume every month and billed to the tune of over Rs 200,000, a Railways official said.
Sources said that the system can further be upgraded with addition of more solar plates and Railways would be able to sell surplus solar power that remained unused on Sundays and other holidays to Multan Electric Power Company (Mepco) under Net Metering System.
Railways had initially assessed the system would cost Rs 4.658 million, however, bids submitted were lower than this amount and hence the project was installed at a much lower cost.
Foreseeing benefits outweighing cost, Railways has decided to shift Samasatta loco-shed and Mehmood Kot Railway station and loco-shed to solar system. Two systems of 40KW each would be installed at both facilities and each would cost Rs 3.6 million, official sources said.
Inspired by Prime Minister Imran Khan’s environment-friendly policies and need for adding more resources to the country’s energy mix, Punjab minister for energy Dr. Akhtar Malik was spearheading a solarized Punjab campaign under which thousands of government schools, basic health units.—APP
