On 15^th August, 2025, BLW (Banaras Locomotive Works) unveiled Bharat’s first removable solar panel system installed between active railway tracks in Varanasi. This pilot project was launched on Line No. 19 of the BLW workshop. It includes 28 bifacial monocrystalline solar panels spanning 70 metres with a total capacity of 15 kWp.

“The length of the track is 70 meters, and 28 solar panels installed here will generate 67 units of electricity per day, with a capacity of 15-kilowatt peak (KWP). The power density is 220 KWp per km, and the energy density is 880 units per km per day,” said general manager Naresh Pal Singh.

The panels are mounted on concrete track sleepers using an indigenous installation process. This breakthrough will allow Bharateeya Railways to make better use of idle spaces between tracks for renewable energy generation. The solar panels are secured with rubber mounting pads and epoxy adhesive. This ensures resistance to vibrations from passing trains while enabling quick removal for track maintenance. The removable design combines durability with practicality, ensuring uninterrupted train operations.

According to the Bharateeya Railways officials the project has the potential for wider adoption across Bharateeya Railways’ 1.2 lakh km network, especially in yard lines where additional land is not required. Using the space between tracks, the system could generate 3.21 lakh units of electricity per year per kilometre. In other words, the Bharateeya Railways tracks have a potential to generate around 25.71-million-kilowatt power (25,710 megawatts) per day. After salaries and pension, fuel cost is the third highest cost component of revenue expenditure in IR. Energy cost stood at 14.53 % of Bharateeya Railway’s working expenses (2021-22) and the Bharateeya Railways has an operating ratio of 98.43% (2023-24).

The North Eastern Railway (NER) has installed 6.58 MW capacity rooftop solar panels across various stations, service buildings, factories, and other railway establishments. As of November 2024, these efforts have resulted in the generation of 36.25 lakh units of solar energy, translating to a saving of ₹1.37 crore in electricity costs. Therefore, Bharateeya Railways has vast potential to generate captive solar power energy and save on its fuel cost significantly and improve its operational efficiency.

Direct supply of solar energy to Bharateeya Railways will enable two billion passengers to travel on solar powered trains and help save almost seven millions tonnes of carbon a year, according to a study conducted by NGO Climate Trends and UK-based green tech start-up Riding Sunbeams (2021). Bharateeya Railways has set a target to become zero carbon emitter by 2030 and solar power railway tracks will be an important initiative to achieve this target.

Solar power roads

Bharatiya scientists at Gujarat Energy Research and Management Institute (GERMI) had suggested long ago the construction of roof top solar panels on the roads particularly on national and state highways, which will be relatively less expensive and more durable than the direct solar power roads ventured abroad (China, France and Netherlands) that have solar panels on the surface of the road covered by unbreakable glass. Additionally, these roof top solar power roads provide shelter to the roads leading to lesser repairs and maintenance costs.

These Bharatiya scientists estimated that a PV roof cover over the four-lane 205 km Ahmedabad-Rajkot highway can generate 104 MW of power while the Ahmedabad-Vadodara highway, 93 km long, can reap 61 MW of electricity. On a conservative basis the existing network of national highways (States and UTs) that cover a distance of 1,46,145 KMs (2023) have the potential to generate 74,000 MW to 95,000 MW (74-95 GW) of solar power. Bharat has an installed capacity of 457 GW as on 31 st November, 2024. The current state highways District roads and other road network in Bharat covers a distance of 1,86,528 kms, 6,16,964 KMs, and (31 st March, 2020) and 57,50,000 kms (31.3.2024) respectively.

Therefore, Bharat’s Road network has an immense potential to generate solar power. State Highways and District roads built under PPP model where the road contractors are struggling to collect toll revenues can be converted into roof top solar power roads that provide scope for alternative mode of revenue generation. These roads also have closer access to grid connectivity.

Solar power roads can be designed as PPP models under revenue collection and sharing basis since the solar power generated by these roads can be sold to both Government and private players. Road contractors may be permitted to sell the solar power to EVs subject to the pricing regulations stipulated by the Government. Necessary number of charging points may be installed on these roads for recharging the battery of EVs.

The ongoing studies and R & D in enhancing the storage capacity of the batteries will certainly lead to a disruptive technological breakthrough in the near future that can substantially reduce the cost of storage and distribution of the solar power in addition to enabling the storage of the solar power during the nights, winter and rainy seasons.

NITI Aayog is aiming to achieve EV sales penetration of 70% for all commercial cars, 30% for private cars, 40% for buses and 80% for two and three-wheelers by 2030, in line with the country’s goal to achieve net zero carbon emission by 2070.

MoSPI (Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation) report titled Energy Statistics Bharat 2025 states that Bharat is currently the world’s third-largest consumer of oil, and LPG, fourth largest LNG importer, refiner, and fourth largest automobile market. Data from the report notes that 70% of the energy consumption in the transport sector is in road transport, which constitutes 25.69% of the total energy consumption of our country.

Total Final Energy Consumption (TFEC)- by Sector

(in kilotonnes of oil equivalent in 2021-22)

(https://dataful.in/datasets/21153/).

For Transport, Road transport had the highest TFEC with 355182 Ktoe, followed by Domestic Aviation with 66489 Ktoe, and Rail transport with 39,569 Ktoe.

Bharat imported 232.5 million metric tonnes (MMT) of crude oil in the 2023–2024 fiscal year (April 2023–March 2024), which is 87.7% of its total requirements. Whereas, In the first nine months of FY 2024–2025, Bharat exported 47.5 million tonnes of petroleum products, with a total export value of $70.13 billion during April 2023 to January 2024. Bharat ranked as the second-largest exporter of refined petroleum products globally in 2024, following the United States.

If the Bharat’s transport sector is able to generate captive solar power which constitutes 25.69% of the total energy consumption of our country, it will reduce our import of crude oil significantly and the transport sector can become zero carbon emitter to enable our country to easily achieve net zero carbon emission by 2070. This requires political will and a collaborative approach by the Union Government and the States. Let us hope that the governments will work in this direction.

Generation of solar power on roads and construction of plastic roads are part of my PhD thesis (a decade ago). I have been advocating for solar power generation in my guest lectures to senior executives of Bharatiya Railways since 2015 in their senior executive development progammes while taking the sessions on the topics- infrastructure development and infrastructure financing for Bharatiya Railways. I am glad that this initiative is now being rolled out. Hopefully, solar power roads too will become a reality in Bharat in the near future.