Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today said the Centre is mulling to set up solar thermal plants on land parcels owned by Railways in order to increase the usage of renewable energy. Speaking at an event organised by CII in Mumbai today, the Railway Minister said that there is a need to work towards reducing carbon emissions. He said besides reducing dependence on the traditional sources of energy like coal, there is a need to find innovative ways, and use technology and processes that can reduce carbon emission.<br/><br/>Mr. Prabhu further said there is a need to conduct energy audits to keep a control on such emissions and effective use of electricity. Mr. Prabhu said since Railways is the highest consumer of electricity, the ministry is taking various steps to increase usage of solar power to meet its needs. He informed that railway has already initiated the process of using rooftop of railway buildings for generating solar power. He added railway is also planning to develop solar thermal way of generating power and for this the Railway is studying the feasibility of such projects on its lands and considering developing solar power generation under PPP model.