CESC Limited

This article is about the company. For the football player, see Cesc Fàbregas.
Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation Limited
ক্যালকাটা ইলেকট্রিক সাপ্লাই কর্পোরেশন লিমিটেড
Public limited company
Traded as NSE: CESC
BSE: 500084
Industry Conglomerate
Founded Kolkata, India
Founder R. P. Goenka[1]
Headquarters Kolkata, India
Area served
 West Bengal, India
Key people
 Sanjiv Goenka (Chairman) Aniruddha Basu
(Managing Director)
Products Power-Generation & Distribution, Mining
Revenue ₹53.2 billion (US$790 million) (FY 2013)
Number of employees
 10,000+(2014)
Website http://cesc.co.in
Victoria House, the headquarters of CESC

The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation or CESC is the Kolkata-based flagship company of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, born from the erstwhile RPG Group, under the chairmanship of businessman Sanjiv Goenka. It is an Indian electricity generation and the sole distribution company serving 567 square kilometres (219 sq mi) of area[2] administered by the Kolkata municipal corporation, in the city of Kolkata, as well as parts of Howrah, Hooghly, 24 Parganas (North) and 24 Parganas (South) districts in the state of West Bengal. It serves 3.0 million consumers approximately, which includes domestic, industrial and commercial users.[2]

History

The first demonstration of electric light in Calcutta was conducted on July 24, 1879 by P W Fleury & Co. In 1881, 36 electric lights lit up a Cotton Mill of Mackinnon & Mackenzie.[3] The Government of Bengal passed the Calcutta Electric Lighting Act in 1895. The first license covered an area of 5.64 square miles (14.6 km2). On 7 January 1897 Kilburn & Co. secured the Calcutta electric lighting license as agents of The Indian Electric Company Limited. The company soon changed its name to the Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation Limited and in 1897, The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation Limited was registered in London.

On 17 April 1899, the first thermal power plant of The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation Limited was commissioned at Emambagh Lane near Prinsep Ghat, heralding the beginning of thermal power generation in India. The Calcutta Tramways Company switched to electricity from horse-drawn carriages in 1902. Three new power generating stations were started by 1906. The company was shifted to the Victoria House in Dharmatala, Kolkata in 1933, and still operates from this address.

In 1970, the control of the Company was transferred from London to Calcutta. In 1978 it was named "The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (India) Ltd." The RPG Group was associated with The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (India) Limited from 1989, and the name was changed from The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (India) Limited to CESC Limited. In 2011, CESC became a part of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, which was formed on 13 July 2011 by Sanjiv Goenka, the youngest son of Dr RP Goenka, the late founder of RPG Enterprises.

Operations

Load-shedding (interruption of power supply due to shortage of electricity) was common in Kolkata during the 1970s and 1980s. Recently the Calcutta power grid has seen progressively better performance and fewer outages.

CESC owns and operates 4 thermal power plants generating a total of 1,225 MW of power.[2] It also operates two 20 MW gas turbine units as a Peak Load Power Plant to compensate the need for additional power demand during the peak hours. The company has also established its footprint in unconventional energy with a 9 MW solar project in Gujarat and a 50 MW wind project in Rajasthan. It is also developing three hydro power projects, with a combined capacity of 236 MW, in Arunachal Pradesh. In addition, the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group has four captive power plants, with a combined capacity of 76 MW, which are fuelled by the process waste gas produced at its four carbon black manufacturing units in India. There is a 40 MW power plant running on coal washery rejects and carbonaceous shale at the coal mining operations in Assansol. More than 80% CESC customers' electricity requirement is met from its own generating plants, balance electricity is purchased from third parties.[2] Its captive coal mines provide about 50% of the coal requirement.[2] The remainder is mostly provided by Coal India Limited. For a long-term solution, CESC is looking to acquire coal mines in Indonesia.[4]

CESC also has its own Transmission & Distribution system through which it supply electricity to its consumers. This system comprises a 474-kilometre (295 mi) circuit of transmission lines linking the company's generating and receiving stations with 85 distribution stations; a 3,837-kilometre (2,384 mi) circuit of HT lines further linking distribution stations with LT substations, large industrial consumers and a 9,867-kilometre (6,131 mi) circuit of LT lines connecting its LT substations to LT consumers.[2]

Existing power plants

Power station Location Installed Capacity
(MW) 		Type
Budge Budge Thermal Power Station Budge Budge, West Bengal 750 Coal-fired
Southern Thermal Power Station Kolkata, West Bengal 135 Coal-fired
Titagarh Thermal Power Station Titagarh, West Bengal 240 Coal-fired
Dhariwal Power Station Chandrapur, Maharashtra 600 Coal-fired
Haldia Energy Power Station Haldia, West Bengal 600 Coal-fired
Kasba Thermal Power Station [5] [6] Kasba, West Bengal 40 Gas Turbine Peak Load Power Plant
TOTAL 2,425
(not considering Peak Load Power Plant)

CESC's vintage Mulajore power station, which was located in north Kolkata, was shut down on May 15, 2004.[7] It was inaugurated by the then Bengal Governor Sir John Arthur Herbert in January 1940 and was one of the oldest plants in the system of CESC. The plant employed around 500 employees but hardly generated more than 25 MW daily, even though it had a derated capacity of 60 MW. With a high auxiliary consumption (the energy required to generate power), it used to feed just about 18 MW to the system.[8] The New Cossipore and the Mulajore plants together used to generate only 10% of CESC's power generation but accounted for 59% of the company's workforce.[9] Following the sale of Mulajore plant and machinery, the 43 acres (0.17 km2) of land will be used to set up an industrial-cum-residential township venture that will be executed by CESC Properties, a wholly owned CESC subsidiary.[7] CESC's New Cossipore unit, in turn, was hamstrung by a serious pollution constraint and was hauled up by West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) last year.[9]

Future goals

CESC has major plans to expand generating capacity to 7,000 MW over the next five or six years. The new power generating projects will involve investments of more than ₹300 billion (US$4.5 billion or €4.1 billion).

Upcoming power plants[10]

Location Capacity
(MW) 		Power Station Type Expected Year
of Commissioning 		Project Cost
(INR)
Dhenkanal, Orissa 1,320 Thermal 2015 ₹4,042 crore (US$600 million)[11]
Dumka, Jharkhand 600 Thermal 2016
Balagarh, West Bengal[12]1,320 Thermal 2016
Pirpainti, Bhagalpur district, Bihar 2,000 Thermal 2017
TOTAL6,120

In September 2013, the first unit of CESC's 2x300 MW thermal power project, and the first one outside West Bengal, was successfully synchronised at Chandrapur, Maharashtra. A 400 kV transmission line will feed the generated power from the power station to the grid. The company had entered into power purchase agreement with the Tamil Nadu State electricity distribution utility for 100 MW daily supplies at INR 4.91 a unit from its Chandrapur power plant.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "RPG Group Turnover To Get A Boost From Power, Tyre". Financialexpress.com. 24 July 2002. Retrieved 2010-07-27.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "CESC at a Glance".
  3. ↑ "CESC Limited".
  4. ↑ "Power from CESC plant in Maharashtra finds no takers".
  5. ↑ Environmental Issues for the 21st Century.
  6. ↑ Environmental Pollution Research.
  7. 1 2 "CESC Ltd prepares for scrap sale of plant".
  8. ↑ "CESC Mulajore unit to be shut down by Dec".
  9. 1 2 "CESC plans to shut oldest unit, cut staff".
  10. ↑ "CESC Expansion Plans".
  11. ↑ "CESC hopes for financial closure of 1,000 MW plant in Orissa by 2010".
  12. ↑ http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120509/jsp/business/story_15468104.jsp#.UywZE_mSw9o
  13. ↑ "CESC arm synchronises 300 MW Maharashtra power plant".

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