Railways conclude first bilateral power procurement agreement

Indian Railways Friday said it has concluded the first bilateral power procurement agreement with Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC).

According to the railways, the bilateral power procurement agreement was entered on Feb 5 between north central railway and DVC.

Under the agreement, the railway will buy 50 MW of power from DVC at Auraiya grid sub-station facilitated by railways energy management company.

"This is the beginning of energy cost-reduction measure being taken up by railways. In order to enable railways to buy power directly from suppliers, railways have been notified as 'deemed licensee' by the ministry of power," the railway ministry said in a statement.

"Railway is working to go for more such contracts at key load centres in the coming days which will enable railways to generate significant savings in its traction electricity bills."

Currently, the Indian Railways is the biggest consumer of electricity, consuming about 18 billion units per year with peak requirement of about 4,000 MW.