The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has earned Rs 2.41 crore by selling 82,000 units of carbon credits. The payments were received in March-April 2011, while the credits were earned for 2008 and 2009.

In a release, DMRC stated that it received Rs 2.41 crore ($ 5,42,269) from the sale of 82,000 Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) under the carbon credits scheme by the Japan Finance Carbon Ltd.

DMRC earned Rs 1.07 crore ($2,42,123) by selling 39,000 CERs for 2008; and Rs 1.33 crore ($3,00,146) by selling 43,000 CERs for 2009.

These payments were received in March-April 2011, it stated.

DMRC was the first rail-based project in the world to be registered by the United Nations under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). It earned CERs for the use of regenerative braking system in its trains.

This was the first time in the world that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) had registered a project based on regenerative braking.

Under the regenerative braking process, whenever the trains apply brakes, three phase-traction motors installed on these trains act as generators to produce electrical that goes back into the overhead electricity (OHE) lines. This regenerated electrical energy that is supplied back to the OHE is used by other accelerating trains in the same service line, thus saving overall energy consumption in the system by 30 per cent.

German audit firm TUV NORD certified in 2009 that DMRC had reduced emission of 90,004 tonnes of carbon dioxide from 2004 to 2007 by adopting regenerative braking systems in the Delhi Metro trains.

DMRC started the CDM project in September 2006 with support of the Japan Carbon Finance Ltd. The earning from CER will be used to offset the additional investment and operation costs incurred due to the implementation of the project.

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