The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC) supplies electricity to over 2.4 million consumers in areas around Kolkata, India. It has four power plants with a total generation capacity of 1025 MW. The Budge Budge Generating Station is CESC's largest plant, commissioned in 1997 with a capacity of 750 MW from three 250 MW units. It uses modern technology like vertical down shot boilers and a tandem compounded turbine. A vocational training was organized at the Budge Budge plant to give engineering students practical experience in plant operations and components.

3.  The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation or CESC supplies
electricity to area under the Kolkata municipal corporation in the
city of Kolkata, India, mainly but also few areas of Howrah,
Hooghly, 24 Parganas (North) and 24 Parganas (South) districts of
West Bengal, India.
 The CESC limited supplies electricity to approximately 2.4 millon
consumers. The total generation capacity stands out at 1025 MW
from the four generating power plants. It has four generating
stations namely
1. New Cossipore, commissioned at 1949 with an installed capacity of
100 MW.
2. Titagarh, commissioned at 1983 with an installed capacity of 240
MW.
3. Southern, commissioned at 1991 with an installed capacity of 135
MW.
4. BBGS, commissioned at 1997 with an installed capacity of 750 MW.

4.  The Budge Budge generating
station(BBGS) is a state of the
art facility which has won
several awards and
accolades for its
environmental friendly way
of producing current. It is
located in Pujali,Budge
Budge,24 PGS(S),West
Bengal. The Budge Budge
generating station is a state
of the art facility which has
won several awards and
accolades for its
environmental friendly way
of producing current.

5.  The capacity stands out at 750 MW out of three
units of 250 MW each .Power is generated at
16.5 kV and is stepped up to a voltage of 132
kV(unit 1&2) and 220 Kv(unit 3) in a generator
transformer for onward transmission to the
system.

7. The following two departments give us the technical details
about budge budge generating station.
OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT- The Department of operations at
the Budge Budge generating station is responsible for
monitoring and issuing remote commands in case of manual
mode of operation to various components like
boiler,turbine,condensors etc for a smooth running of the power
plant.
FUEL AND ASH DEPARTMENT- The department of fuel and ash
operations oversees the entire process of coal unloading,
moving it to the stack yard and as well as the effective
elimination of fly as well as bottom ash. A majority of the fly ash
is at present exported to Bangladesh though barges for use in
their cement plants.

9.  A boiler (or steam generator, as it is commonly
called) is a closed vessel in which water, under
pressure, is transformed into steam by the
application of heat.In BBGS,vertical down shot
boilers are used.

10.  A heat engine is one that
converts heat energy into
mechanical energy. Steam
turbines are used as are in
industry for several
critical purposes: to
generate electricity by
driving an electric
generator and to drive
equipment such as
compressors, fans, and
pumps. The main turbine
used in BBGS is a tandem
compounded,three
cylinder one.

11.  The condenser is a major component of the
power plant system. It receives exhaust steam
from the last stage of a turbine and condenses
it to water for reuse as feed water in the boiler
system. For large utility turbines that have a
design incorporating high-, intermediate-, and
low-pressure sections, the exhaust steam comes
from the low-pressure section of the turbine.

12. 1. A direct contact type of condenser, where the cooling
water is sprayed directly into the exhaust steam from
the turbine, and the mixture of the water with the
steam condenses the steam.
2. A surface condenser, in which the cooling water and
exhaust steam remain separate. The vast majority of
power plants use the water cooled surface condenser.

13.  3.Air-cooled condensers are used primarily when
water availability is a problem. They are also used to
meet the requirements for the discharge of water
where so-called zero-discharge facilities are necessary.
They also are used in areas where vapor plumes
associated with cooling towers are to be eliminated.

14.  In BBGS,closed loop system is used for heat
rejecton. Heat is rejected to the atmosphere
through the use of a cooling tower .

15.  In wet cooling tower systems,
cooling water is circulated
through the condenser and
absorbs heat from the exhaust
steam from the turbine. The
heated cooling water is then
circulated through a cooling
tower, where the absorbed heat
is rejected to the atmosphere by
the evaporation of some of the
circulating water. The cooled
water is then returned to the
condenser by a circulating water
pump.Makeup water must be
provided to replace the water
lost during evaporation and
during blowdown, where
contaminants are controlled.

16. The cooling tower therefore performs the
following major functions:
1. Removes the heat that the cooling water
absorbed in the condenser.
2. Minimizes the use of cooling water.
3. Provides cooling water to the condenser to
obtain high plant thermal efficiency.

18.  The Coal Handling Plant has been designed for
supplying coal to both the units of 250 MW each.
Two (2) parallel conveyor streams, one working
and one standby, each of 960 MTPH design
capacity have been provided in the Coal Handling
System.
 Arrangements have been made for unloading of
wagons in the yard either in Wagon Tippler
Hoppers thru' Wagon Tipplers or In the Track
Hoppers thru' bottom discharge wagons.

20.  For a coal fired unit the ash generated after
burning of coal is broadly divided into three types.
The heaviest part, clinker etc. are collected in
Furnace bottom that is at Bottom Ash Furnace
Hopper. Rest of the ash, called Fly ash, is carried
away by flue gas, of which the coarser ash is
collected in Economiser Hoppers and Air Heater
Hoppers. Finer ash is further carried by flue gas to
Electrostatic Precipitator, where Ash is separated
from flue gas by imparting negative electrical
charge to ash particles and then collecting at
positive plate. Subsequently this ash is dislodged
from positive plate by wrapping the plate
Dislodged ash is collected in ESP Hoppers.

21.  This huge ash thus collected at various hoppers needs a
system for disposal. The system incorporated here is
wet system for Bottom-Ash removal & dry system for
Fly-Ash collection & removal. In other words the
bottom ash is to be hydraulically conveyed in the form
of slurry from the bottom ash hopper directly upto the
Dewatering Bins the Ash Tank while the Fly Ash is to
be pneumatically conveyed in dry state upto the
intermediate Surge Hoppers and there from to Final
Storage Silos. Ultimate disposal of both types of ash is
to be by means of road trucks.

22.  The vacational training has been organized by the
CESC limited and has been undertaken at the BUDGE
BUDGE GENERATING STATION. The purpose of the
vacational training is to get an industrial exposure in
our engineering career.
 Students can learn a lot from different books about
various subjects such as operations of a plant, various
constituents of a plant, power production, power
distribution etc. but a practical experience helps in
better understanding and enhancement of knowledge
in various subjects. I am grateful to CESC limited for
organizing this vacational training.