Daily Archives: October 23, 2017

India’s largest floating solar plant ready

The solar farm on 18 floating platforms in Banasura Sagar reservoir

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Highlights

  • The solar photo voltaic panels of the floating solar farm have been installed on 18 floating platforms made of ferrocement floaters with hollow insides.
  • KSEB sources said that they were waiting for the availability of chief minister to inaugurate the plant possibly by next month

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Kozhikode :

The construction works of the largest floating solar plant in the country have been completed at the Banasura Sagar reservoir in Wayanad.

The 500 kWp (kilowatt peak) solar plant of the KSEB floats on 6,000 square metres of water surface of the reservoir. The outlay for the project is Rs 9.25 crore.

The solar photo voltaic panels of the floating solar farm have been installed on 18 floating platforms made of ferrocement floaters with hollow insides.

“The installation works of the floating solar panels is over and the plant will be ready for inauguration soon,” said Manoharan P, assistant executive engineer at the KSEB research and dam safety sub-division, Thariyode.

He said the 500 kWp project is the largest floating solar project to come up in the country. The work of the project had begun on March 2016.

KSEB sources said that they were waiting for the availability of chief minister to inaugurate the plant possibly by next month.

Officials of Thiruvananthapuram-based Adtech Systems Ltd, which set up the plant, said that the plant would be able to generate 7.5 lakh units of power annually which will be fed to the KSEB grid using underwater cables.

“We have used high efficiency solar panels for the project as per KSEB stipulations. Also, we have set up a floating substation on the reservoir to convert the output into 11kV considering economic and safety aspects,” said Raveendran T Nair, vice-president (projects) of Adtech Systems Ltd.

He said that the floating solar plants had higher efficiency compared to ground-mounted installations due to the moderating effect of water bodies on panel temperature.

“Also, when compared to ground based units, the floating panels will accumulate lower concentration of dust,” he said.

The 500kWp project is a scaled up version of the 10kW floating solar project which was commissioned in Banasura Sagar reservoir in January 2016.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City News> Kozhikode News / TNN / October 17th, 2017

Intensive farming in Kerala a European legacy, says historian

Back to the past: Veritta Paitrukangal, an exhibition on agricultural implements of yore, in Thrissur.

Exhibition on agricultural tools at Sahitya Akademi draws history lovers

Intensive and extensive cultivation was practised in Kerala by European colonialists, the fruit of which were reaped mainly by the middle class, Michael Tharakan, chairman of the Kerala Council for Historical Research (KCHR), has said.

He was addressing a three-day national seminar on ‘Social changes in Kerala: The last five centuries’, organised by the Kerala Historical Research Society (KHRS) at the Kerala Sahitya Akademi here. The seminar will conclude on Sunday.

The progress of education in modern Kerala could be traced back to this rise of the middle class, he argued.

Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA) Director Joy Elaman delivered the keynote address.

Kerala Sahitya Akademi president Vysakhan inaugurated an exhibition titled ‘Uprooted Heritage’. KHRS president George Alex presided over the function. Joseph John Keethra, general secretary, KHRS, and C.R. Valsan, Chairman, Kerala State Textile Corporation, spoke.

At the technical session, historian M.R. Raghava Warrier said colonialism in Kerala was based on a slavish mentality in material life, knowledge life, and individual life. Colonialism uprooted occupation groups and controlled the resource base of the land, he added.

Samuel Nellimukal presented a paper on education and social progress in the 19th and early 20th century Kerala. T.R. Venugopalan moderated the session.

The seminar is organised in six sessions, and 15 papers will be presented by experts in relevant areas. At the valedictory session, Alexander Jacob, IPS, will deliver a lecture on ‘Keralam: Innele Innu’.

Veritta Paitrukangal (Uprooted Heritage), an exhibition of agricultural tools and implements organised in connection with the seminar fascinated history lovers.

The exhibition explores the possibility of attracting youth to Kerala’s history and culture, and thereby, attempts to open fresh avenues in research and studies. Indirectly, it looks forward to creating awareness among youth and the public about the State in the past five centuries.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States / October 21st, 2017