New Delhi, Oct 16 (IANS): As part of its budget announcement of procuring power through bidding, Indian Railways on Thursday signed a contract with Adani Power for supply 50 MW for three years, an official statement said.

Adani will provide electricity at a landed tariff of Rs 3.69 per unit for the period, said a railways ministry statement, adding this would result in an annual saving of about Rs.150 crore as compared to the earlier tariff of state-run NTPC.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, who was present on the occasion, said the railway is committed to go in a big way in reducing its energy bill through an appropriate energy mix, procuring energy through bidding and using alternative sources of energy.

Noting that Indian Railways has already embarked upon on solarisation work, he informed that his ministry was soon coming up with a PPP model to utilize rooftops and vacant land spaces of railway establishment for generation of solar energy.

In the railway budget this year, it was proposed to buy electricity through the bidding process at economical tariff from generating companies, power exchanges and bilateral arrangements which would result in substantial savings of at least Rs.3,000 crore in next few years.

Subsequently, the Railway Energy Management Company Limited behalf of North Central Railway (NCR) had invited bids and received as many as 10 bids. Later, seven bids were received at the stage of financial bid or request for proposal (RFP) stage, and Adani Power Ltd emerged successful bidder and was awarded the contract.