TIRUNELVELI: Integral Coach factory (ICF), under the Ministry of Railways, has launched the first green energy project of the Indian Railways by installing a 10.5 MW wind power plant at Kasturi Rengapuram and Urumangalam villages falling under Radhapuram t aluk of Tirunelveli district. This project was inaugurated on Thursday by Member(Electricals), Railway Board, Sukhbir Singh.
The wind power plant is expected to generate 25.9 million units annually, which will offset the total annual energy requirement of 25 million units of ICF.
The green energy project qualifies for the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) benefits under the Kyoto Protocol, which is expected to generate a revenue of Rs 2.5 crore per annum on account of carbon credits.
Singh, after switching on the monitoring system of the plant at Kasturi Rengapuram, said, “ICF has set an example in implementing green and clean energy.
This is just a beginning for the railways and we have planned to set up wind power plants in Orissa and Rajasthan and a solar energy plant at Nagpur”.
He also released a project design document for the registration of this project with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) for claiming carbon credits. The Rs 66-crore project has been completed in four months.