Greenko commissions first phase of Balavenkatpuram wind farm in India

Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Science & Technology

Greenko Group has commissioned the 51.2MW first phase of the Balavenkatpuram wind farm in Anantpur District of the state of Andhra Pradesh, India.

Built with an investment of around €40m, the first phase features enhanced General Electric GE 1.6 XLE turbine, which has the potential to deliver around 30% capacity factor in an average year.

Greenko CEO Anil Chalamalasetty said the company has commissioned the phase one of the Balavenkatpuram wind farm ahead of schedule.

“Our first two wind farms refined our modular approach to wind farm construction, which is now delivering substantial and predictable growth.

“As a result, we should double our generating capacity this financial year to 600MW and remain in line to hit our 2015 target of 1,000MW,” added Chalamalasetty.

The company claims construction on the 50MW second phase is currently underway and is using Gamesa’s G97 turbine, which has a 90m hub height and 97m diameter blades.

Additionally, the company, which has commissioned the grid connection for the site’s 200MW full capacity, has signed a 25-year power purchase agreement with the state.

The project will benefit from the recently increased tariff as well as from the generation based incentive (GBI), a federal government scheme under which GBI will be provided up to INR10m (€117,942) per MW with the claim period between four years to 11 years.

Early this year, the state government has announced a new tariff regime for renewable energy at INR4.7 per unit, laying the foundations for accelerated growth, investment and job creation.

source: http://www.wind.energy-business-review.com / Energy Business Review / EBR Home> Power Generation> Wind> Wind News / by EBR Staff Writer / November 11th, 2013

Hyderabad to get sunburned

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, World Opinion

SunburnHF19nov2013

Music lovers in the city won’t have to travel all the way to Goa to let their hairs down. Asia’s largest three-day electronic music festival, Sunburn, will be held in Hyderabad in February. The brand Sunburn is crafted by the most successful pair of hands in Indian media industry. Shailendra Singh better known as SS, was in city recently and discussed with City Express the motifs and vision behind creating Sunburn, besides also confirming that Hyderabad will be hosting its first Sunburn Fest by February 2014.

“Sunburn is very keen to bring it’s festival or Arena experience to Hyderabad. After Goa, Bombay, Delhi and Bangalore, we are eyeing Hyderabad to be the next destination. We have huge requests and massive fan connect between the fans and Sunburn.”

“Not everyone can make it to our flagship Goa Festival,” says the man behind the Sunburn brand, Shailendra Singh. “So last year, we decided to bring the Planet Sunburn experience to them. Who doesn’t deserve the chance to leave their world behind and come be who they want to be? With both Mumbai an Bengaluru partying, it’s sure to be the biggest EDM celebration in India.”

Sunburn Mumbai and Bengaluru Festivals will bring all the elements of a full-fledged festival. Lounges, chill-out zones, libraries, movie projections, graffiti walls, art installations, flea markets, and climbing walls are just some of the activities to keep Sunburners busy throughout the two-day festival.

“Sunburn Arena gigs — like SHM , Hardwell, Tiesto — focus purely on that one artist.” says Singh.  “The stage, sound and lights are super advanced to make them look amazing. For Sunburn Festivals, we devote a lot of energy to the festival vibe. Sunburners can come all day long, meet old friends and make new ones, and have a true escape.”

“Of course we have the best lineup possible on the planet right now — Paul Van Dyke is a complete legend, Fedde Le Grand is a defining figure in house music, and who doesn’t know about the rapid rise of Tomorrowland Resident DJ’s – Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike? Showtek, Orjan Nilsen and Josh Wink are huge names. And if Sunburners haven’t yet heard about Orjan Nilsen, Worlfpack and Adam Beyer, then they are in for a mindblowing surprise. Sunburn Mumbai Bengaluru line-up is freaking unbelievable.”

Sunburn has expanded itself to set a new bar for ‘arena’ format gigs with renowned international DJs, the most recent being Swedish House Mafia’s One Last Tour and Avicii’s debut in India marking the rise of a unique concepts such as Sunburn Arena.

Sunburn has brought together renowned Indian and International Djs to entertain crowds of lakhs all around the year, with a variety of experiences to choose from, and caters to a wide Indian and international audience, highlighting India as a Dance Festival destination to the world.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Swati Sharma – Hyderabad / November 12th, 2013

Hyderabad airport wins best cargo airport award

Business & Economy, Records, All

hyderabad airportHF19nov2013

Hyderabad :

The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Hyderabad has been judged the “best cargo airport of the year” at the recently held 40th Annual Convention of Air Cargo Agents Association of India in Jaipur.

This is the second year in a row that RGIA has been recognized for its cargo operations, said a statement by GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL), the operator of the airport.

“Winning this award for the second consecutive year demonstrates our commitment in service excellence to our customers and stakeholders. This award is a welcome boost for us in our endeavours to establish RGIA as a logistics hub of India,” said S.G.K. Kishore, CEO, GHIAL.

RGIA has emerged as India’s first and only airport based Free Trade Zone, providing high value potential business opportunities to customers in the region for value processing, trading and distribution.

ACAAI is the national association representing the air cargo Industry in India. It promotes growth, development and professionalism in the cargo agency business.

source: http://www.ianslive.in / IANS Live / Home> Business / by IANS / Hyderabad – November 11th, 2013

IIT ‘biggies’ gobble up 200 affordable schools

Business & Economy, Education

Hyderabad :

If you have just moved to Hyderabad and looking for an affordable school near your locality, chances are that it has shut down and an expensive school that runs exclusive IIT training courses for students  from an early age has sprung up in its place.

In the past year-and-a-half, at least 200 “affordable” private schools have been gobbled up by two chains of educational institutes that provide courses for competitive exams from junior level. About 2,000 such institutes have mushroomed in the same period across the twin cities.

These schools, which lure parents with dreams of seeing their children becoming future IITians with fat salaries have left officials very worried. “Parents should have a choice about which school they want to send their wards, but that is seldom the case now,” A Subba Reddy, a district education officer told STOI.

Some of the schools which were immensely popular with the middle-class but have shut down, include St Augustine in Boiguda, Sadar school at Madannapet, Vidyaniketan Talent School at Narayanguda, Om Vidyalaya at Barkatpura and Genius Grammar High School and Shantiniketan High School, Amberpet.

Some areas in the city have seen a huge drop in “affordable” schools, where the annual fees hover around Rs 35,000-Rs 40,000 per year compared to Rs 75,000 -1 lakh per year charged by specialist schools.

Officials and parents association members said IIT coaching schools are either buying out the neighbourhood schools, or luring students with free tuitions for a short while and later charging huge sums for training their kids for competitive exams.

“Parents should encourage smaller schools by not getting drawn to the bigger brands,” said Sangeetha Reddy, a school owner. S Srinivas Reddy, president of the AP Recognised Schools Management Association, said he has come across many such instances and in one case managed to stop a very popular school in Ramanthapur

from shutting down, after a big chain had lured half of its students away.

“They were running into losses and I somehow managed to save it with help from some like-minded people,” Reddy told STOI. But not many were so lucky. “I struggled to find a decent school which was cheaper as the one recommended by my relative in Bangalore. I am forced to spend nearly 40% of my salary now on education of my two kids,” said Mrinalini Nair, a resident in Himayatnagar.

About six months ago, the schools education department had asked all specialist schools to drop qualifying words such as “Techno” and “Olympiad” to prevent marketing of the brand name, but no steps have been taken to implement so far.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hyderabad> Schools / Nikhila Henry, TNN / November 10th, 2013

US futsal team gets Hyderabadi touch

Nri's / Pio's, Sports
Saathvik Reddy
Saathvik Reddy

Twelve-year-old Saathvik Reddy, representing the US in the World Futsal Championship to be held at Madrid in December, hails from the city

Twelve-year-old Saathvik Reddy hails from the twin cities but is now representing the United States donning the super famous No. 10 jersey. But, it is for the World Futsal Championship to be held in Madrid (Spain) this December.

Futsal is just like soccer but played on a smaller (mostly hard court field) and comprises five players with one of them being a goalkeeper and with unlimited substitutions. It is quite a remarkable achievement for the boy whose parents are settled in the US.

Saathvik represents the ‘Legends’ which incidentally is the same team which the youngster had played for in the US National Championship and had finished runners-up. “We are all honoured to represent the US on the world stage as this is once in a lifetime opportunity presented by the Soccer World Cup Federation. It is a dream has come true for the San Jose Legends under-12 team this year,” exclaimed Saathvik in a communication from the US.

“It is a great opportunity for youngsters like me to compete against the best and get a perspective as to where we stand in the presence of renowned coaches,” says Saathvik, all excited to showcase his skills in front of the best coaches from other countries. “This is a great moment of joy and pride for all of us. We are already into encouraging Saathvik to raise his own funds for this trip which would cost $4,000 for each player,” say the proud parents. “We are very happy as it is not easy for a youngster from India to reach this stage,” says Sisupal Reddy, Saathvik’s grandfather, a maintenance engineer at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium here.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by V.V. Subrahmanyam / Hyderabad – September 19th, 2013

Mumbaikar climbs rare bandwagon

About Seemandhra / Andhra Pradesh, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All, World Opinion

Hyderabad’s Salar Jung Museum plans to evaluate & tabulate its antique clock collection.

Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad and (top) the British musical clock, one of the rare clocks housed there
Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad and (top) the British musical clock, one of the rare clocks housed there

The Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad, will begin work on evaluating and tabulating its clock collection, considered by clock enthusiasts as among the finest in India. Speaking to dnaover the phone from Hyderabad, Dr Nagender Reddy, director, Salar Jung museum said that this would be the biggest such exercise since the clocks were taken over from various private collectors in the 1960s.

“We want to do it in a scientific way, to add value to what is already a glorious collection of more than 400 of the rarest clocks in the country. It is a tedious and delicate process which includes the showcases that hold these clocks, evaluating the individual parts. All of this has to be done in such a way that no damage, whatsoever, comes to the clocks,” said Reddy. The process would be done along with the Lucknow-based National Research Laboratory for Conservation (NRLC), which is the apex body in the country for the conservation of cultural heritage.

The plan to evaluate the clock collection has already begun creating excitement among watch-lovers with Dr Reddy admitting that several people had contacted the museum to be part of the process. However, he said that it calls for a lot of formalities at various levels of the government as outsiders are not allowed to be part of these processes.

dna has learnt that among the people who have shown willingness to be part of the process is a senior railway officer from Mumbai. Saurabh Mitra, an Indian railway accounts service officer with Western Railway. Mitra, a watch enthusiast and collector, however, refused to comment.

About Salar Jung Museum
The museum was established in 1951. A major portion of the collection was acquired by Salar Jung III. In 1958, it was taken over by the Indian government. It is now run by an autonomous board chaired by the governor of Andhra Pradesh.

source: http://www.dnaindia.com / DNA / Home> Mumbai> Report / by Binoo Nair / Place: Mumbai, Agency: DNA / Friday – November 08th, 2013

Now, where can you find good Andhra cuisine?

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Kochi :

When more than four decades ago, the Andhra University in Visakhapatnam started a course in oceanography, little did the students who opted for the course know that it would open opportunities for them to work in Kerala.

Back then, only one another university, the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat), offered the course.

Not surprisingly, the first Telugus in the modern period were all scientists or academics who moved to Kochi either to work at the Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT) or to teach at Cusat.

Over the years, the members from this state have grown bigger, and today there are over 500 families in Kochi from Andhra. A good number of Telugus, settled in the city, work at the Southern Naval Command, a few at BPCL-Kochi Refineries Ltd with some into business and the realty sector. The Andhra Cultural Association Hall in Panampilly Nagar has become their second home, and it’s here that the Telugu community celebrate festivals such as ‘Sankranti’, ‘Ugadi’, ‘Dasara’ and ‘Diwali’.

However, when it comes to authentic Andhra food, the city has turned out to be a disappointment. Dishes such as ‘royyala iguru’, ‘bommidalu pulusu’, ‘kodi guddu’, varieties of pickles or ‘idli’ with ‘kodi pulusu’, and ‘ragi sankati’ with ‘ulavacharu’ are some that no one in the city would have even heard about. The only time you can find anything remotely close to Telugu cuisine is when food festivals are held in the city during seasonal events or celebrations.

Many early settlers say it was difficult to find boiled rice (white rice) in Kochi shops. But later, hotels started serving white rice, which while failing on the flavour front was still better than the local rice.

However, on the positive side, they get to taste the cuisine of people from other states. “We get to meet people from other communities. We are planning an outing with members of the Kerala Kannada Sangha this year,” said Rudrama Devi, a Kochi-based Telugu housewife.

The Kerala cuisine is a big hit too. The various ‘payasams’, ‘appam’, ‘puttu’ and even the ‘papadams’ are hot favourites,” said S Sanjay, president, Andhra Cultural Association Hall and a manager with BPCL-Kochi Refineries Ltd.

Members of the Telugu community also impart training in ‘kuchipudi’ and other dance forms from Andhra Pradesh to those interested in the city.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kochi> Andhra Pradesh / TNN / November 09th, 2013

AP Science Congress

Business & Economy, Science & Technology

Hyderabad :

The three-day Andhra Pradesh Science Congress will be held at the University of Hyderabad from November 14. The theme is `Innovations in Science and Technology for emerging knowledge society.’

The annual science event is being jointly organised by the A.P. Akademi of Science and the university. About 500 scientific papers will be presented over a period of three days in six parallel sessions, according to Ch. Mohan Rao, President of the Akademi and Director, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology said.

The A.P. Akademi will celebrate its golden jubilee with year-long S &T activities from December, 2013 to December, 2014, covering the entire state of Andhra Pradesh, he said. 

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> News> Science / by The Hindu Bureau / Hyderabad – November 08th, 2013

Navy Day fest to start from Sunday

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, Science & Technology

 Visakhapatnam :

Leading up to Navy Day on December 4, a string of events have been planned beginning Sunday. In the run up to Navy Day, ships of the Eastern fleet have already started visiting ports along the coast of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal to conduct operational demonstrations.

As part of the Navy Day celebrations, the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) will also conduct a painting competition for children at Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium on Sunday, in which over 1,200 students, including special children, are expected to take part.

An outreach programme will be undertaken on November 17 wherein a medical camp will be conducted at Prema Samajam at Dabagardens. A live performance will be held by the ENC Band at Vuda Park the same evening.

A ‘Day at Sea’ for children and media will be organised on November 20 onboard ships of the Eastern fleet. In addition, the ships will be open for visits by schoolchildren and organised groups on November 19 and 20.The Navy Mela, scheduled to be inaugurated on November 21, will be open to the public from November 22 to 24.

A visit to ships for special children is slated for November 22 and for the general public on November 23&24. Two blood donation camps will be conducted on November 27 & 30. The grand finale, in which ships, submarines and aircraft of the ENC Eastern Naval Command will showcase their capabilities, will be held on Navy Day on December 4 off RK Beach.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Visakhapatnam> Eastern Fleet / TNN / November 09th, 2013

Celebrating a legacy

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education
The Hyderabad Public School choir singing their school song during the inauguration of the three-day Eagles’ Fest being conducted as part of the 90th anniversary celebrations on Thursday | Neeraj Murali
The Hyderabad Public School choir singing their school song during the inauguration of the three-day Eagles’ Fest being conducted as part of the 90th anniversary celebrations on Thursday | Neeraj Murali

Hyderabad Public school (HPS) is hosting the Eagles’ Fest as part of its 90 year celebrations. The three-day cultural, literary and creative celebrations which kickstarted on Thursday, will see participation from 24 schools in the city. The flagship event has 1000 students contesting for 45 events.

“The Eagles’ Fest is a powerful medium to express and show your talents and as students you must participate with healthy rivalry and a true competitive but gracious spirit,” advised Major General Cherish Mathson, the chief guest at the inaugural. “As children you must not forget that you are after all children; you must accept uncertainty because from that emerges your true calling,” added the major.

The fest split into three categories – Literary Hub, Cultural Hub and Creative Zone. The Literary Hub began teh festivities with the Turn Coat debate, book review and creative writing events.

“The Turn Coat debate is a different style of debating, where the participant debates both, for and against the theme. It is interesting because it tests the debater’s logical thinking capacity, whether they can differentiate between both the sides,” explained Meera Vedre, teacher and one of the organisers of the Literary Hub. The theme for the debate was ‘The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education’. Contesting students from grades six and 12 debated for three minutes each, throwing light on points like education being the pathway to learning, the marking system creating a rat race thereby removing the joy out of learning and the aspect of commercialisation of institutions where students become literate but not educated.

At the same time, the Cultural Hub hosted a poetry recitation and fancy dress competition. “The participants were very excited and were eager to recite their poems,” echoed a beaming Uma Rani, senior teacher and organiser of the event. Themed ‘Me and Mother nature,’ the fancy dress competition saw participation from nervous and shy yet eloquent tiny tots like Pushti, a class two student who dressed up as a globe and advised the audience to think green and act green. Class one student, Vignesh portrayed a tribal man and asked  the audience to not cut his home – the jungle, and try to preserve it. The next two days will see students contest in extempore, quiz, recitation, music and dance events.

Alumnus Shaaz Mehmood, who is also the chief coordinator of the fest, found himself in not so familiar territory. “I miss wearing the uniform and lugging a heavy bag around the campus. Things have changed; today’s kid’s are fast and tech-savy and all the classrooms of HPS have been converted to e-classrooms,” said the 25 year-old restaurateur who left the school eight years ago. “Everything going on around here is very transparent, four different committees are set up in order to declare fair results,” added the alumnus.

As the chief coordinator of The Eagles’ Fest, he is extremely excited and is certain that the event will be a huge success. “After seeing such an immense participation, we may decide to have the fest next year as well,” he added. A valedictory function will be held on November 9 to  give away the trophies to the Eagles’ Fest Champion school, cultural championship, literary championship and creative champions.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Ushma Jhaveri – Hyderabad / November 08th, 2013