CESC to revive power distribution network

Kolkata: CESC plans to invest Rs 2,000 crore over the next five years in rejuvenating its power distribution infrastructure.

The company has tied up with SP Global Solutions, a subsidiary of Singapore Power Ltd for consultancy support in the proposed project.

SP Global Solutions will help the utility in strategic planning, technology application and process standardisation for upgrading the distribution network within the 567-km licensed area.

“The agreement with SP Global Solutions is for one year. We will pay them about Rs 6 crore as consultancy fees. Based on their suggestions, CESC will invest Rs 2,000 crore over a period of five years,” Vice-Chairman Mr Sanjeev Goenka told newspersons here today. The investment would be financed from internal accruals.

“We are, perhaps, the first major power company to induct a global leader in rejuvenating the distribution system. The investment in our distribution network will help us to reduce our transmission and distribution losses making us more profitable,” he said, adding that Singapore had the most reliable distribution system in the world, followed by Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul and Melbourne.

On CESC’s ongoing projects, Mr Goenka said the 250-MW plant at Budge Budge in West Bengal would start commercial operations in June 2009. The unit was expected to play a crucial role in meeting the growing demand in Kolkata and its suburbs.

CESC supplies electricity to nearly 22 lakh subscribers in Kolkata and its suburbs, and has a generating capacity of approximately 1,000 MW.