Indian Railways begins trials of solar powered trains

[sms]

BS idea just for PR. What do they want to achieve with this when tracks on these routes are already electrified. Does anyone even think about scalability .

Ooh i get it , the executives just read that solar is good -.- .

Separate installation are expensive , inefficient , space requirement is high (constraint on train ), energy developed will be severely limited as trains are under shade for significant amount of times , no feedback to transmission lines and not to mention high wear and tear on top of moving trains .

Maybe they were thinking about emissions ( i doubt it ) . In a country where 60 pc power is from coal a solar farm is a much better alternative .

ALL in ALL stupid as it gets.

Please do not play advocate, judge and Juery. repot says they are in trial run. Let them collect data and decide based on facts that if it makes sense or not!

Regarding electrification... its slow and expansive if they can save a single drop of fossile fuel by doing so ...they must go ahead and implement it.

If it makes send we must consider implenting it on electric trains to... remember a unit of electricity saved is a unit of electricity produced.

 

[Quibbler]

Please do not play advocate, judge and Juery. repot says they are in trial run. Let them collect data and decide based on facts that if it makes sense or not!

Fair enough

Regarding electrification... its slow and expansive if they can save a single drop of fossile fuel by doing so ...they must go ahead and implement it.

If it makes send we must consider implenting it on electric trains to... remember a unit of electricity saved is a unit of electricity produced.

They plan 1000 MW in solar panels . A 1000 MW solar farms cost 1.5-2 billion $. A spread around system like this will be atleast 2.5 - 3 Billion $. Cost of electrification of tracks in india 1.5 crore/km. So what would you prefer 10000km of electrification( currently slow because of fund crunch) or this project.

Regarding savings in fossil fuel , we can save many more drops of fossils fuels if we invest the same amount of money in traditional solar farms .

 

[SanjeevaniButi]

He had a point
We should ficus on electrification rather than these gimmicks

Any reason we can't try both ?

 

[GR!FF!N]

Indian Railways is currently testing this on a non-AC coach on the Rewari-Sitapur passenger train. The cost of installing the panels on each coach, according to the Economic Times, is about Rs3.9 lakh ($6,084), and these are expected to result in savings of Rs1.24 lakh ($1,934) per year.

India’s diesel-guzzling railways are testing coaches with solar panels - Quartz

 

[nForce]

The name solar-powered train gives the wrong impression that entire train including it's engine runs on solar power. In reality only the electrical accessories in the coaches are solar-powered I suppose.

 

[sms]

Please do not play advocate, judge and Juery. repot says they are in trial run. Let them collect data and decide based on facts that if it makes sense or not!

Regarding electrification... its slow and expansive if they can save a single drop of fossile fuel by doing so ...they must go ahead and implement it.

If it makes send we must consider implenting it on electric trains to... remember a unit of electricity saved is a unit of electricity produced.

Sir, you got it all wrong.
- First feasibility study shows ROI >30%. It will recover cost in 3 yrs and it makes sense.
- Second Railway never said that they will install panal equalent of 1000MW on coaches.

 

[egodoc222]

Fair enough



They plan 1000 MW in solar panels . A 1000 MW solar farms cost 1.5-2 billion $. A spread around system like this will be atleast 2.5 - 3 Billion $. Cost of electrification of tracks in india 1.5 crore/km. So what would you prefer 10000km of electrification( currently slow because of fund crunch) or this project.

Regarding savings in fossil fuel , we can save many more drops of fossils fuels if we invest the same amount of money in traditional solar farms .

You gave the cost of transmission lines...and conveniently left money needed for setting up power projects...cost of acquiring raw materi
al..for running of these projects...and in the end money needed for buying this electricity produced!!

 

[kadamba-warrior]

BS idea just for PR. What do they want to achieve with this when tracks on these routes are already electrified. Does anyone even think about scalability .

Ooh i get it , the executives just read that solar is good -.- .

Separate installation are expensive , inefficient , space requirement is high (constraint on train ), energy developed will be severely limited as trains are under shade for significant amount of times , no feedback to transmission lines and not to mention high wear and tear on top of moving trains .

Maybe they were thinking about emissions ( i doubt it ) . In a country where 60 pc power is from coal a solar farm is a much better alternative .

ALL in ALL stupid as it gets.

My thoughts exactly!

It would have been much better just to start by covering all the Railway Platforms with Solar Panels FIRST, followed by Electrification of all routes! As it is, Railways sits idly on top of huge land pools all across India.

Not only does it look like a fancy project with very limited uses, it takes focus/resources away from more useful projects. Much more importantly, I suspect we will inevitably see more roof-leaks during rainy seasons, in coaches that are already in bad shape - due to substandard welding processes.

For the coach-top mounted solar panels to be any effective, the whole roof (wherever possible, sides too) needs to be made with some form of PV material in stead of just gluing/welding a few panels on top. In that respect, the recent developments like translucent PV materials are much more suited and are a lot more efficient - apart from reducing the lighting needs by letting more sunlight in and reducing the overall weight of the coaches. But even those technologies are nowhere near mature yet.

 

[cirr]

Installation of small wind turbines on the roof would probably generate more electricity than solar panels do。And you get 24 hours a day 365 days a year clean energy。

 

[East or West India Best]

He had a point
We should ficus on electrification rather than these gimmicks

Gas prices are low, don't worry about electification.

 

[pigtaker]

so modi deprived the rights of indian poor souls sitting on the top of train?

 

[AnnoyingOrange]

You got to be kidding, as if those few panels would ever be enough to move a train. Even if you covered every inch of the train in solar panels they still would not be enough.

The panels will just about provide enough power to light the train and run the fans....still its a very good idea.

BS idea just for PR. What do they want to achieve with this when tracks on these routes are already electrified. Does anyone even think about scalability .

Ooh i get it , the executives just read that solar is good -.- .

Separate installation are expensive , inefficient , space requirement is high (constraint on train ), energy developed will be severely limited as trains are under shade for significant amount of times , no feedback to transmission lines and not to mention high wear and tear on top of moving trains .

Maybe they were thinking about emissions ( i doubt it ) . In a country where 60 pc power is from coal a solar farm is a much better alternative .

ALL in ALL stupid as it gets.

Some undereducated folks need to read this :
Energy Conservation - Train Lighting and Air Conditioning | RailElectrica

 

[Manindra]

Installation of small wind turbines on the roof would probably generate more electricity than solar panels do。And you get 24 hours a day 365 days a year clean energy。

And it loose more energy due to Aerodynamic disturbance compared to generated one

 

[IND151]

Solar powered trains - Indian Railways begins trials of solar powered trains | The Economic Times
View attachment 229443

Indian Railways has rolled out a non-AC coach of Rewari-Sitapur passenger train lit by solar panels installed on its roof as part of its plan to harness the green source of energy in a big way.

Thanks for Info.

I don't think this is ggonna be successful

why?

 

[MohitV]

Thanks for Info.



why?

Max. power flow in a solar panel depends on various factors like intensity of sun light, azimuth angle and tilt angle of the sun. As these factors will keep on changing very fast .....it will be very hard to obtain a max. power point or MPP

In order to get max flow of power........the MPP has to be at point 'b' having a const voltage and current.....which is usually achieved in afternoons considering factors like tilt angle, azimuth angle, intensity etc etc constant in a specific time rang and the panel being stationary....in case of trains...all factors will keep on changing hence the overall efficiency of the panel will be very less....less efficiency ->less power generated->more cost