The Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), issued a new report concluding that distributed solar energy can play a major role in bridging India’s massive gap in delivering rural healthcare services, both as a primary and backup source of power.

If the Railways were to consider the 5 GW target, one of the first steps for its successful implementation, is to develop an understanding of the policy and regulatory scenario across various states, so as to understand the opportunities and challenges for solar developers to set up projects.

The Indian Railways has installed a waste to energy (WtE) plant for biodegradable waste in its residential colony at Kishanganj in Delhi and has plans to build two more WtE projects at New Delhi and Jaipur railway stations.

Kerosene in India is primarily available as a subsidized commodity for household use, and was added to the basket of Public Distribution System (PDS) commodities during the 2nd Five Year Plan (FYP). Kerosene has been continued as a subsidised fuel to provide affordable cooking and illumination (lighting) to households for the last 60 years.

Worldwide, there is a growing recognition of the role of energy access in the last mile delivery of community services. However, in India, energy access has had a strong household-level focus, while its role as an enabler of better health and education services has not gained enough attention.

With the Indian Railways being a significant consumer of resources, especially energy, identifying cost-effective options and realising an energy system with minimal environmental impacts is essential.