CESC Limited

The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (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 km2 of area 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 also serves power distribution in Kota, Bikaner and Bharatpur in Rajasthan under the name CESC RAJASTHAN. It serves 3.0 million consumers approximately, which includes domestic, industrial and commercial users.

History

The first demonstration of electric light in Calcutta was conducted on 24 July 1879 by P W Fleury & Co. In 1881, 36 electric lights lit up a Cotton Mill of Mackinnon & Mackenzie. The Government of Bengal passed the Calcutta Electric Lighting Act in 1895. The first license covered an area of 5.64 sqmi. 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 Street, heralding the beginning of thermal power generation in India. The

Operations

Load-shedding (interruption of power supply due to shortage of electricity) was common in Kolkata during the 1970s and 1980s. But from 1990s, the situation had improved and the Calcutta power grid has progressively given better performance and fewer outages.

CESC owns and operates 4 thermal power plants generating a total of 1,225 MW of power. 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 Asansol. More than 80% CESC customers' electricity requirement is met from its own generating plants, balance electricity is purchased from third parties. Its captive coal mines provide about 50% of the coal requirement. The remainder is mostly provided by Coal India Limited.

CESC also has its own Transmission & Distribution system through which it supplies electricity to its consumers. This system comprises a 474 km circuit of transmission lines linking the company's generating and receiving stations with 85 distribution stations; a 3837 km circuit of HT lines further linking distribution stations with LT substations, large industrial consumers and a 9867 km circuit of LT lines connecting its LT substations to LT consumers.

CESC has recently started expansion into renewable energy sector through its subsidiary Purvah Green Projects Ltd, and aiming to build 300 MW solar portfolio.[4]

Existing power plants

CESC's vintage Mulajore power station, which was located in north Kolkata, was shut down on 15 May 2004. 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, 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. 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. Following the sale of Mulajore plant and machinery, the 43 acres of land was used to set up an industrial-cum-residential township venture executed by CESC Properties, a wholly owned CESC subsidiary. CESC's New Cossipore unit, in turn, was hamstrung by a serious pollution constraint and was hauled up by West Bengal Pollution Control Board last year.

Power Plants outside Kolkata

In September 2013, the first unit of CESC's 2×300 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.

type	Public limited company
traded as	nse: CESC bse: 500084
foundation	Kolkata, India
founders	R. P. Goenka
location	Kolkata, India
area served	West Bengal, Maharashtra, Rajasthan (India)
key people	Sanjiv Goenka (Chairman) Brajesh Singh (MD – Generation) Vineet Sikka (MD – Distribution) Rajarshi Banerjee (CFO)‡R1R‡
industry	Electric utility
products	Electrical power
services	Electricity generation and distribution natural gas exploration, production, transportation and distribution
revenue	inr 155440000000‡R2R‡
revenue year	2024
net income	inr 14480000000
net income year	2024
assets	inr 371680000000
equity	inr 119850000000
num employees	6087 (2024)
parent	RPSG Group
homepage	http://cesc.co.in/

History

Operations

Existing power plants

Power Plants outside Kolkata

External links

References