Railways hunts for carbon credits in the light of CFLs

“Getting the project registered would allow the private players to earn carbon credits. The player will have to share a part of the revenue earned through carbon credits with the Railways,” a Railway Ministry official said. Companies offering a bigger share obviously have a greater chance of bagging the project.

The railway officials dealing with the project are excited. “It will be a win-win situation for us. The Railways would not need to invest a single penny and stand to gain carbon credits instead. Once the project is executed successfully, it would not only bring down the electricity bills of 6.5 lakh households but also the total electricity bill of the Indian Railways since it buys power at an average of Rs 4.25 per unit and is bound to charge at tariffs set by the respective state electricity boards,” said one official.

Once selected, the private players will also have to furnish Rs 50 lakh as security deposit, which will only be refunded once the Railways receive CFLs worth that month. “In the rare event of a player failing to deliver the CFLs, this security would stand forfeited,” said an official.

To ensure that the project is successfully registered with the CDM, the Railways would consider only those players who have successfully registered two or more projects with the UNFCCC and earned at least 1 million carbon credits for them.

CFLs or Compact Fluorescent Lamps are four times more energy efficient than normal bulbs and have a life of more than 7,000 burning hours against the 1,000-2,000 hours provide by incandescent lamps.