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India is Rolling Out Trains With Solar-powered Coaches That'll Save Thousands of Litres of Diesel (qz.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: India's massive diesel-guzzling railway network is getting serious about its experiments with solar. On July 14, Indian Railways rolled out its first train with rooftop solar panels that power the lights, fans, and information display systems inside passenger coaches. Although the train will still be pulled by a diesel-powered locomotive, a set of 16 solar panels atop each coach will replace the diesel generators that typically power these appliances. The railways estimate that a train with six solar-powered coaches could save around 21,000 litres (5,547 gallons) of diesel every year, worth around $108,000. In 2014, Indian Railways consumed 2.6 billion litres of diesel, accounting for around 70% to the network's total fuel bill of $4.4 billion. The first of these trains will be pressed into service on the suburban railway network of New Delhi, one of the world's most polluted cities, before two dozen more coaches are fitted with similar rooftop solar systems. Retrofitting each coach with these system, including an inverter to optimise power generation and battery for storing surplus power, costs around $14,000.
Not sure what unit of measure you are using, or how many that is.
That's nice now if they can just stop people from trying to leap onto the engine fronts or sides of cars they may have something. Seem some crazy videos of the train system in India its like something from a 100 years ago.
I can't see how anything could possibly keep an idea like this from working.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
What's that, a few cups? Several swimming pools? People that use real units want to know.
...with hundreds of people sitting on them?
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How is this going to work with all the passengers standing on the solar panels?
http://www.my-travel-experience.com/upload/main/13/1n5jrlt710.jpg
Rs 28,592 crore = USD 4.5 billion, approximately
Rs 9 lakh = USD 14,000
...if the roof has solar panels, where do most of the passengers sit?
I've been on Indian trains....the roof is a significant part of the carriage capacity.
-Styopa
But if this use of solar panels puts money in the pockets of solar panel makers and make them reduce their costs and eventually utility scale/grid scale solar power generation happens ... then we are talking about something truly momentous.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
21,000 liters ~5,000 gallons = 108,000 dollars of fuel ?
Yeah something is wrong with the story from the get go.
If there is surplus power, then throw in an air conditioner and a refrigerator or two
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Good job India- the big question though is: why haven't countries been using solar panels on mass transit roofs before now? I'm sure it could save lots of money most places. ... well maybe not mass transit in subways.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
6-car trains at $14k/car comes $84k to retrofit and each train saves $108k/year on diesel. If you're getting a $24k return for each train you finish with the refit, just in the first year... awesome.
This is a terrible blow against bollywood.
No longer will they be able to film dance scenes on trains without resorting to CGI.
Captcha: villains
Now that the cars have power will there be any sort of tasing / electrocution device to prevent free-riders on the roof / sides? If not, when the services requiring electricity do not function because the sun is being blocked by the free-riders will the passengers who pay for those services be refunded?
good luck in a tunels!
I'm surprised that this isn't already integrated with the locomotive. The locomotive is almost certainly diesel-electric, so why did they have separate generators on the cars, rather than just drawing from the massive diesel generators in the locomotive? And if they add solar panels, to all of the cars why use them to charge batteries, rather than just feeding any excess juice to the locomotive, allowing it to burn a little less fuel to keep the train moving? I suppose this might result in a little bit of waste when the train is sitting still, so I suppose it's worth having enough battery capacity to capture that energy, but most of the time it's sitting still it's probably in a train station which could likely use the power.
Note that I know almost nothing about any of this stuff, so this isn't a "they're stupid for not doing that" post; I'm actually asking questions. I suppose the simple answer may well be "Because the locomotive isn't presently designed to do that".
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How is this going to work with everyone standing on the roof?
You all know how an average indian train looks like. Like a grape wine made of human bobbles.
Most residential solar panels here in the US have a life span of about 20 years and average payback time of 7.5 years (that depends a lot obviously, but I've heard 7.5 years being thrown around). This is a no-brainer if the panels are really paying back for themselves in just 1 year. The other 19 years are pure gravy!
Simpsons did it
It is better to be the hammer than the anvil.
Solar cells do not generate energy when there are people sitting on top of them.
Why waste money putting solar panels on trains for auxilliary power when the railway tracks apparently still aren't electrified? By investing in overhead lines and the infrastructure to go with it, the next generation of trains will reduce fuel usage by 100%.
Toting around rooftops full of smelly, dirty, non-paying parasites costs money in wasted fuel. Just removing the freeloaders and grifters alone will improve fuel economy considerably.
Who says the roof riders aren't paying? If not, then the ones inside are probably not paying either.
$108,000 for 21,000 litres doesn't make sense so lets do some reasonable guesstimating.
21K litres is about $20K. I'm guessing they get the bulk discount since they buy it in multiple freighter loads. They may even own a few refineries. Each coach takes $13K to convert and it takes 6 coaches to save the $20K. Thats a conversion cost of 6 x 13 = 78K. Pay off assuming no other expenses, like maintenance, wear and tear etc is 78/20 ~ 4 years. Seems not bad but not a slam dunk either. Ongoing recurring expenses will eat into the savings quickly. I'd bet new batteries every so often would make things interesting.
I'm guessing that the electricity used by the engines is a tad higher in voltage and amperage than anything a solar cell array that can be mounted on a train can produce. Not only that but the more conversions you do ( inverters, transformers, whatever) the more your losses are.
The Indian government still refuses to provide running water, electricity and sanitation to the more than 600 million Indian citizens who lack such services, choosing instead to devote resources to international pissing contests.
Are the cars reluctant or refusing somehow?
Reduce the population
Summary claims 21,000 liters of diesel saved over 2.6 billion liters yearly usage.
Are they really boasting about a .0008% offset?I agree there is no small gains, but I am not sure it is worth the news.
After all, the people are already sitting up there and have already mastered getting up and down with cargo. It's not likely to be noticed with their 20 per cent plus transport losses anyway.
Whenever I have seen any video of trains in India the roofs are always covered with people. Did they place the solar panels on stilts to provide shelter for the rooftop riders? I don't see how they intend for these to get much sunlight otherwise.