Mumbai Metro One, promoted by Reliance Infrastructure, has commissioned a 612 kW rooftop solar power installation at its D.N. Nagar depot, located in Andheri West.

According to IANS, the installation, consisting of 2,000 rooftop solar panels, is expected to generate 0.9 million units of energy annually. This will fulfill 25 percent of the auxiliary energy demand of the depot and save approximately ₹5 million (~$71,000) per annum.

The installation, set up under the Renewable Energy Service Company (RESCO) model, has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with vendors for a period of 25 years. The developer will also be responsible for its operations and maintenance (O&M) services for the entire period.

“We are committed to our ‘go green, go clean initiative’. After successful installation and commissioning of solar panels on 12 metro stations, we are happy to install a new solar project at our metro depot. In the long run, we wish to gradually increase our use of green energy,” an MMOPL spokesperson, told IANS.

The total installed capacity of Mumbai Metro One including all 12 stations and depot campus is around 3 MW to date.

This month, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) also tendered 2 MW of rooftop solar projects to be developed atop Mumbai monorail stations and sites.

Mumbai has seen an increasing number of rooftop solar installations in the past with Mercom consistently reporting on them. Just a few weeks prior, St Xavier’s High School in Mumbai installed a 35 kW grid-connected rooftop solar project in its premises. The project has been commissioned by MYSUN, a rooftop solar solutions and services company.

Then in August 2018, Tata Power Solar, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Power, commissioned a 820.8 kW solar rooftop system at the Cricket Club of India (CCI), located in Mumbai. This is the world’s largest rooftop installation atop a cricket stadium, as announced by the company.

Image credit: Kashif Pathan [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Nitin is a staff reporter at Mercomindia.com and writes on renewable energy and related sectors. Prior to Mercom, Nitin has worked for CNN IBN, India News, Agricultural Spectrum and Bureaucracy Today. He received his bachelor’s degree in Journalism & Communication from Manipal Institute of Communication at Manipal University and Master’s degree in International Relations from Jindal School of International Affairs. More articles from Nitin Kabeer