Only funding needed to electrify railways

subscribe

Currently, the main impediment to railway electrification is the amount of capital needed to make it happen, even with the positive return on the investment, which is probably higher now than ever before.

The model suggested above of 24,800 kms of electrified single track would require an investment in the order of $7.5 billion.

An innovative method of financing, such as a PPP (Public Private Partnership) or a system of outside guarantees for the infrastructure assets, should be considered because the investment is beyond a reasonable size to add to the balance sheets of the railways, even though the payback would be achieved in less than 10 years.

The railways would save more than $1.4 billion annually in energy costs.

With the growth of electric power generation from wind turbines in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec and Nova Scotia, and the abundant hydro power available in Quebec, non-fossil fuel electricity generation is now available in every province in Canada.

Wind energy can be purchased through the provincial electrical grid for delivery to almost any load within that grid. Thus, additional loads such as railway electrification do not imply substitution of one form of fossil fuel, diesel, to another one such as coal or residual fuel oil to generate the electric power.

Railway electrification is an environmental bargain that offers long term security of affordable transportation for our Canadian industry, agriculture and natural resources.

Related News

mohamed shaker

Egypt's renewable energy to reach 6.6 GW by year-end

CAIRO - Egypt is planning to expand into renewable energy projects in a bid to increase its contribution to the energy mix, the country’s minister of electricity and renewable energy Mohamed Shaker said.

Renewable power is expected to add 6.6 gigawatts (GW) by the end of 2020, with plans to reach 8,200 megawatts (MW) after the completion of the renewable energy projects currently under consideration, Shaker added in a statement on Tuesday.

This came during the minister’s video-conference meeting with the British ambassador to Egypt Geoffrey Adams to explore the potential means for cooperation between the two countries in the electricity sector.

READ MORE
japanese wind farm

Japanese utilities buy into vast offshore wind farm in UK

READ MORE

California avoids widespread rolling blackouts as heat strains power grid

READ MORE

sally kwan and Duane Hanson

New York and New England Need More Clean Energy. Is Hydropower From Canada the Best Way to Get it?

READ MORE

787 dreamliner

How the 787 uses electricity to maximise efficiency

READ MORE