Good news: Delhi Metro set to undergo this big transformation

Not just providing a comfortable journey to commuters, Delhi Metro would now also save the environment! Delhi Metro would use solar energy for around 60% of its electricity needs. By 2021, Delhi Metro plans to run all its operations on solar energy. If this happens, Delhi Metro would become the world's first 100% 'Green' energy metro. Currently, Delhi Metro needs an average 180-200 MW electricity daily for running the 373-km network. Currently, DMRC buys this electricity from separate companies on commercial rates. DMRC also produces 21 MW solar energy n its own. From May this year, DMRC will start getting 99 MW solar energy from the 750 MW Solar Power Park in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, says a report by Hindustan. 

There are 271 metro stations in Delhi-NCR. Around 26 lakh people take metro ride daily. With the shift to solar energy, Delhi Metro is expecting to save over Rs 41 crore. 

In July last year, DMRC had signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Madhya Pradesh-based Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Ltd (RUMSL) to get green power from the latter to run its trains.

The 750 MW solar power project in Rewa is spread on an area of 1590 acres. It is one of the world's largest single-site solar power plants in the world. 

“The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) will get green power from the Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Ltd (RUMS) within the next two months...The project is estimated to meet 90 per cent of the daily electricity demand of the DMRC. Besides, it would save Rs 1,400 crore of Delhi Metro in the next 25 years,” Madhya Pradesh Renewable Energy Principal Secretary Manu Srivastava was quoted as saying by PTI. 

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The DMRC's shift to solar energy will be extremely beneficial for the national capital. The city was ranked as the sixth most polluted city of the world in the air quality data compiled by the World Health Organisation (WHO).