CESC's Budge Budge unit gets carbon credit nod

A thermal power plant of CESC, one of the oldest power companies in Asia, has become eligible for carbon credit.

A carbon dioxide emission reduction project at its Budge Budge power generating station has got approval from United Nations Framework Convention on Climatic Change (UNFCCC) for carbon credit, which it claims is the first for a coal-fired power plant in the world,P K Basu, executive director (generation) of CESC said today.

Besides, the 500MW Budge Budge thermal power station has been formally recognised by the Central Electricity Authority as the unit with the highest plant load factor (PLF). It has recorded a PLF of 99.6% during FY06.

Elaborating on the carbon credit programme of the RPG group power utility, the executive director said the company had got the approval on September 16.

It has now applied for UNFCCC approval for another project at its Titagarh power station.

"DNB of Norway is working as a consultant and validator for our clean development mechanism (CDM) project in Budge Budge and Titagarh," he said.

According to Basu, it is planning a third CDM project at Titagarh for which it would apply to UNFCCC mid-October.

Commenting on the CDM projects of CESC, B L Chandak, VP of RPG Enterprises said the company would get 3840 units of carbon credit every year for the Budge Budge project.

The projection for other two projects in Titagarh is around 36,000 units.

"We are expecting 40,000 units from all these projects once other two projects get the nod," he said.

Chandak indicated at the current valuation of the carbon credit units that could fetch close to Rs 3.5-4 crore.

He pointed out, besides, a revenue line, carbon trading would help the company to access cheap global funds for future projects.

"There are some big private equity funds which only give money to those outfits with green technology. This project can help us in this regard," he added.

Earlier, Basu said that the Budge Budge plant had also achieved 100% utilisation of fly ash.

CESC was now supplying fly ash to the Holcim cement plant and also exporting it to Bangladesh.