ANANTAPURAM CITY: November 2014

RUN for HEALTH in our CITY headed by Mayor Swaroopa Rani garu & Others

ANANTAPURAM GETS SOLAR POWER PLANT

Utilising this natural phenomenon and to promote clean energy solutions, Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Limited (MEIL) established a 50 Mega Watt (MW) solar thermal power plant in the district, which uses concentrated solar power (CSP) technology, one of its first in south India. MEIL established this plant through its unit MEIL Green Power Limited (MGPL).

MGPL was awarded the 50 MW solar thermal power plant as part of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). The mission’s target is to deploy 20,000 MW of grid connected solar power by 2022.

The plant, commissioned on Thursday, is spread across 600 acre of Nagalapuram village in Peddavadaguru mandal of Anantapur district and built at a cost of ` 848 crore. The plant is the only one, out of seven, solar thermal power plants located in south India. The six other plants are located in Rajasthan and produces 420 MW put together.

How does it work?

The plant uses a technology which is still in its nascent stages in India.

That is Parabolic Trough Technology, wherein a series of reflective mirrors are designed in the form of parabolic troughs and a thin pipe runs along focal point. Sun energy from the mirror surfaces’ is directed to the thin pipes.

A Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF) runs through the pipe which absorbs the heat energy directed to the pipes and it gets heated up to a temperature of 400 degree Celsius. Upon pumping, the HTF reaches heat exchanger, where the accumulated heat is transferred to water running around the pipes. At the high heat conditions, water is converted to vapour form which rotates the turbines and thus electricity is produced.

Ninety seven per cent of sun light that falls on the mirrors is reflected to the tube. For maximum utilisation of sun’s heat, a devise, Inclinometer, is used to track position of sun. The troughs change their position and face sun accordingly, alike a sun flower.

50 MW Power and Two States

The 50 MW power generated from the power plant will be finally sent to the National Thermal Power Corporation limited (NTPC) grid. The corporation takes care of distributing the power between AP and Telangana states. “As of now, we are increasing production capacity from 15 MW per hour. And by the end of this month, the plant will produce 50 MW,” said B Uma Maheshwar Reddy, associate vice president (AVP), MEIL. The power generated every day is sent to NTPC and sold at a cost of ` 11.30 per unit.

At full capacity, the power plant will generate 110 million units per annum. About future plans of the company, Uma Maheshwar said that they are aiming to increase the production to 550 million and would choose Anantapur for the power generation.

Usually, Photo Voltaic (PV) technology is used for utilizing solar energy in production of electricity. However, MEIL choose to go for Parabolic Trough Technology as it was costing less compared to the PV technology in 2010. Over the years, as PV technology matured, cost of the technology came down drastically.

“However, in the future cost of this CSP will also come down,” Uma Maheshwar said.

ARTICLE was taken from

THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS published on 14-11-2014.

INNOVATIVE STEP TAKEN BY ANANTAPURAM SP S.V.RAJASEKHAR BABU

ANANTAPUR: Thieves are not born, circumstances and other social problems make them so and they can be reformed. This is the concept of “one thief, one cop” of the Anantapur police.

It was SP S.V. Rajasekhar Babu who had launched the innovative experiment to bring reforms among thieves and their family members.

Durga Prasad, a notorious robber with a criminal record of at least 50 cases including firing on cops during a robbery in Gouribidanur Taluk in Karnataka, has been entrusted to Thirumalesh, head constable of Gudibanda police station as part of the reforming programme.

Presently, Durga Prasad is in the judicial custody of Chickabalapur district police and Mr Thirumalesh’s brief is to reform him by counselling him and his family members.

At least 2,500 thieves, house burglars, chain snatchers and robbers have been listed in Anantapur district for reformation to keep them from criminal activities. Police records state there are 3,001 persons with criminal records in the district. Of them, about 500 are from Karnataka and other districts.

The district police has chalked out a plan to reform 2,500 persons by introducing them to alternative livelihoods to lead a respectable life in society.

Anantapur CCS DSP B. Vijayakumar, who is in charge of the programme, said that the robbers were attached with cops who had detailed information about their criminal history.

Anantapur CCS constable Adiseshu is attached to Narayanaswamy alias Errodu of Nuthimadugu Thippepalli, who has a criminal record of 45 cases. Meanwhile constable Jayaramuru has to reform Kadiri Ganganna, who is an accused in at least 30 cases and 14 in Anantapur sub division limits.

Head constable Dhona Singh has been entrusted to reform D. Kullayappa of Dharmavaram with a history of daylight robberies. DSP B. Vijayakumar said the in-charge cops would prepare detailed reports, including fingerprints and day-to-day movements.

“The initiative will curb thefts by repeated counselling and the department will also assist them to get respective sources of income,” he said, adding that the thieves would also be given mobile phones.

---------------------ARTICLE taken from DECCAN CHRONICLE --------------