Summary: "Rooftop solar panels will be installed at all 12 stations and at four locations in the depot in the next few weeks. Going green in its third year of operations, Mumbai Metro has decided to set up rooftop solar panels at all 12 stations along the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor and the depot, as well as instal LED lights at all stations to conserve electricity. Mumbai Metro One also gives loyalty discounts to commuters by tying up with 200 brands. The generated solar power is expected to meet 30% of Metro's total 6.9MW auxiliary power requirement for non-traction use, such as lights, air-conditioning and maintenance of stations. "We witnessed the highest footfalls at Airport Road Metro station in the past one year owing to the international airport in the vicinity.

Going green in its third year of operations, Mumbai Metro has decided to set up rooftop solar panels at all 12 stations along the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor and the depot, as well as instal LED lights at all stations to conserve electricity. The generated solar power is expected to meet 30% of Metro's total 6.9MW auxiliary power requirement for non-traction use, such as lights, air-conditioning and maintenance of stations. "Rooftop solar panels will be installed at all 12 stations and at four locations in the depot in the next few weeks. The entire solar power generating system will have an installed capacity of 2.3 MW of which 2 MW will be produced from the rooftop installations at the stations and the rest from the panels at the depot," announced Abhay Kumar Mishra, CEO of Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd, on the eve of Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro's second anniversary, which falls on Wednesday.

The theme for the third year of operations is "Go Green, Go Clean". Mishra added that they are also looking at conserving water . "Last year, we saved 30 lakh litres of water, and the target for the third year of operations will be 100 lakh litres," he said, adding that this will be achieved through water recycling and rainwater harvesting. The Metro's automatic wash plant utilizes about 1,200 litres of water to wash one train of which about 1,000 litres (85%) is collected and recycled. Only 200 litre of water is dispersed due to wind and high pressure jets that are used for cleaning. By using a durable epoxy coating on the train floors that does not dirty easily, Mumbai Metro has cut down its water consumption for cleaning compartments by 90%—from 200 litres to just 20 litres for each train. Mishra said, "Over 18 crore citizens have travelled on the VAG corridor in the past two years.

• [Editor:tianyawei]