Piyush Goyal as Railways Minister is good news for renewable energy companies

Indian Railways' renewable energy projects are likely to gather steam and grow at a faster rate under Piyush Goyal, the former Union New and Renewable Energy Minister.

Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had appointed Goyal as the new Railways Minister. Goyal as New and Renewable Energy Minister had initiated many projects like electrification of villages and Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) to revive debt-ridden power distribution companies and solar power.

Now, Goyal's appointment as the Railways Minister will reinforce the Centre's focus on infrastructure development, of which the railways account for a big chunk.

India has an ambitious target to support 2,000 railway stations through solar, under the Indian Railways 1GigaWatt solar mission. It also targets to source 25 percent of railway's energy requirement from renewable energy sources by 2025.

Goyal's appointment has cheered the solar and wind energy companies and they are expecting business and growth to pick up.

"Railway stations, tracks and land owned by them have potential to develop solar power which is abundantly available on most sites and reduce their dependence on external sources," Vinayak Chatterjee, Chairman at Feedback Infra, told Economic Times. 

Green Engine

In July, Indian Railways had launched the first solar powered (diesel electrical multiple unit) train from the Safdarjung railway station in Delhi.

The Modi government also wants to tap renewable energy for railways to reduce carbonisation that contributes to the pollution. The centre is now focusing on key policy and regulatory changes to cut down on challenges that developers face while supporting the railway's renewable energy push.

"We have set up a target of electrifying the entire network of Indian Railways in the next 10 years with at least 90 percent of track electrification in the next five years," former Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu had said.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had also said that around 7,000 stations will be fed using solar power and work has already started in 300 stations in that respect.