Mumbai: Central Railway's water coolers are powered by sunshine

The solar water coolers have been installed at Mumbai CSMT, Asangaon, Pen, Apta, Roha, Neral and Lonavala stations

A relatively new concept of solar water coolers at railway stations has been getting the thumbs up from commuters in Mumbai division. As the water coolers do not use electricity, they are zero-bill and zero-maintenance as compared to their electrical counterparts. They have so far been installed at Mumbai CSMT, Asangaon, Pen, Apta, Roha and this year at Neral and Lonavala stations.

Outside Mumbai Division, they have been installed at Talegaon station in Pune division.

"An electrical water cooler used to consume 1,620 kwh power and this one consumes zero kwh. Copper tubes ensure that each drop gets natural minerals. When the weather is 35 degrees Celsius, the temperature of the water will be over 10 degrees below, to 25 degrees Celsius naturally. As the cooling mechanism works on solar power, it is 100 % safe and cost effective," Central Railway's Chief Public Relations officer Shivaji Sutar told mid-day. Each unit contains 150 lts of water.

Sutar said the coolers don't create the overheads of maintenance cost or renewing equipment or need to be sent for servicing every three months, adding that the installation cost per unit is about R1.24 lakh. Each unit saves R29,000 as no electricity is used and there isn't any maintenance except for cleaning the filter.

"Solar utilities are the need of the hour for the cause of the environment. May it be generating small units of power, or running machines like these, electricity saved is a boon to the green cause," activist Jitendra Gupta of Mumbai Mobility Forum said.

150
Litres of water each cooler will contain

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