Edit Proposal: Milestone-Proposal:The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation - 1897

Thank you for proposing a technical achievement for possible recognition as an IEEE Milestone in Electrical Engineering and Computing. Your efforts help preserve the heritage of technology. Detailed information on the Milestone application process may be found at: Milestone Guidelines and How to Propose a Milestone. At least one of the proposer(s) must be an IEEE Member (including Student Member) in good standing.

To the proposer’s knowledge, is this achievement subject to litigation? If the answer is "yes", the proposal cannot proceed further. Yes No

You must be able to answer "yes" to all of the following questions. If the answer to any of the following questions is "no", the proposal cannot proceed further.

Contact us at ieee-history@ieee.org if you are unable to answer "yes" to all of the following and would still like to proceed.

Is the achievement you are proposing more than 25 years old? Yes No

Is the achievement you are proposing within IEEE’s designated fields as defined by IEEE Bylaw I-104.11, namely: Engineering, Computer Sciences and Information Technology, Physical Sciences, Biological and Medical Sciences, Mathematics, Technical Communications, Education, Management, and Law and Policy. Yes No

Did the achievement provide a meaningful benefit for humanity? Yes No

Was it of at least regional importance? Yes No

Has an IEEE Organizational Unit agreed to pay for the milestone plaque(s)? Yes No

Has an IEEE Organizational Unit agreed to arrange the dedication ceremony? Yes No

Has the IEEE Section in which the milestone is located agreed to take responsibility for the plaque after it is dedicated? Yes No

Has the owner of the site given permission to place an IEEE plaque? Yes No

Year or range of years in which the achievement occurred:

Title of the proposed milestone. (Include date or date range in title. Example: “Alternating Current Electrification, 1886”)

Please provide a plaque citation in English summarizing the achievement and its significance. Text absolutely limited by plaque dimensions to 70 words; 60 is preferable for aesthetic reasons. NOTE: The IEEE History Committee shall have final determination on the wording of the citation. Names of living persons are not normally used in citations. Exceptions to this are cases where the person's name is linked to the achievement itself (e.g. the Lempel-Ziv algorithm, Maxwell's Equations, etc.) or where the person's name is so widely recognizeable to the general public that it makes sense to use it. When used, the names should be the names of the engineers, scientists, or technologists who actually made the achievement, rather than managers or executives. For more information and suggestions about writing milestone citations, please visit Helpful Hints on Citations, Plaque Locations.

The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC) established the first commercial electric supply company in South Asia. CESC switched on the 1000 kW thermal power generation plant at Emambagh Lane, Prinsep Street in Calcutta (now Kolkata) on 17 April 1899. This delivered 450/225V DC power for street lighting, residential and office buildings, and the Calcutta Tramways. The event heralded the era of electricity in the Indian Subcontinent.

In what IEEE section(s) will the milestone plaque(s) reside?

Please specify the IEEE Organizational Unit(s) which have agreed to sponsor the Milestone, and supply name and contact information for the senior officer from those OU(s). Sponsorship has three aspects: 1) Payment for the cost of the plaque(s), 2) Arranging the dedication ceremony, and 3) agreeing to monitor the plaque and to let IEEE History Center staff know in case the plaque needs to be moved, is no longer secure, etc. Number 3 must be done by the IEEE Section(s) in which the plaque(s) is located, but aspects 1 and 2 can be done by any IEEE Organizational Unit, and they need not be the same one. Please note: your email address and contact information will be masked on the website for privacy reasons. Only IEEE History Center Staff will be able to view the email address.

Street address(es) and GPS coordinates of the intended milestone plaque site(s). Please include coordinates in decimal format rather than degrees.

What is the intended site(s) of the milestone plaque(s) relation to the achievement? The intended site(s) must have a direct connection with the achievement (e.g. where developed, invented, tested, demonstrated, installed, or operated, etc.). A museum where a device or example of the technology is displayed, or the university where the inventor studied, are not, in themselves, sufficient connection for a milestone plaque.

Also, please Describe briefly the intended site(s) of the milestone plaque(s). (e.g. Is it corporate buildings? Historic Site? Residential? Are there other historical markers already at the site?)

Are the original buildings extant?

Please provide the details of the mounting, i.e. on the outside of the building, in the ground floor entrance hall, on a plinth on the grounds, etc.

How is the intended plaque site protected/secured, and in what ways is it accessible to the public? If visitors to the plaque site will need to go through security, or make an appointment, please give details as well as the contact information visitors will need in order to arrange to visit the plaque.

Who is the present owner of the site(s)?

In the space below, please describe in detail:

• the historic significance of the achievement,
• its importance to the evolution of electrical and computer engineering and science,
• its importance to regional/national/international development,
• its benefits to humanity,
• the ways the achievement was a significant advance rather than an incremental

improvement of existing technology.

The material submitted here will constitute the main descriptive article on the ETHW website for readers to learn about the milestone. Space is unlimited, and detail is encouraged. Most milestones require 1000 to 1500 words of support, however there is no word limit. The article should be readable by a wide audience that includes practicing engineers, scholars of history, and the general public. Some examples of the text of good milestone articles are First Radio Astronomical Observations Using Very Long Baseline Interferometry] and G3_Facsimile International Standardization of G3 Facsimile (Do not worry about the formatting of the page, IEEE History Center Staff will do that afterwards.)

What is the historical significance of the work (its technological, scientific, or social importance)?

The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation Limited started distribution of electricity in the City of Calcutta from 1897 which was the British capital of India during that period. Advent of electricity in the city heralded rapid urbanisation and industrialisation in the city and adjacent area. The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation Limited commissioned first Thermal Power Plant on 17th April, 1899 at Emambagh Lane near Prinsep Street in Calcutta. The initial capacity was 3 x 500 HP, Direct Current (DC) supplied to Consumers at 450 & 225 Volts. CESC established additional power stations subsequently at Alipore in March, 1902 of 750 kW capacity, Ultadanga in May, 1906 of 165 kW capacity and Howrah in September, 1906 of 1200 kW capacity. Cossipore generating station commissioned in 1912 with a capacity of 15 MW that replaced the earlier four generating stations. CESC switched over to alternating current (AC) in 1920. The initial usage of electricity was for Street lighting, High-end domestic load and for the electrification of the Calcutta Tram Ways.

What obstacles (technical, political, geographic) needed to be overcome?

There were no regulations on electricity production and supply prior to this time; hence regulatory framework had to be developed to provide electric supply to consumers.

What features set this work apart from similar achievements?

CESC can proudly claim that it brought this wonder energy to Calcutta, a bare 10 years after it was first used to light up London – then the undisputed capital of the world. In those days there was neither gas lamp, nor electricity. Even the kerosene lamp, when it came dazzled us. The contrast can only be described by someone enjoying the wonders of electricity and looking back to those days of oil lamps.

Supporting texts and citations to establish the dates, location, and importance of the achievement. You must supply the texts or excerpts themselves, not just the references. Minimum of five (5), but as many as needed to support the milestone, such as patents, contemporary newspaper articles, journal articles, or chapters in scholarly books. At least one of the references must be from a scholarly book or journal article. 'Scholarly' is defined as peer-reviewed, with references, and published. The full reference, in English, must be uploaded, not just the citation. See below section for details on uploading material to the website. All supporting materials must be in English, or accompanied by an English translation.

Please refer to the document attached

Supporting materials (supported formats: GIF, JPEG, PNG, PDF, DOC) which can be made publicly available on the IEEE History Center’s website (i.e. unencumbered by copyright, or with the copyright holder’s permission). All supporting materials must be in English, or if not in English, accompanied by an English translation. You must supply the texts or excerpts themselves, not just the references. Images and photographs are especially appreciated, however, it is necessary that you list the copyright owner for these and obtain the copyright owner’s permission to reuse. For documents that are copyright-encumbered, or which you do not have rights to post, email the documents themselves to ieee-history@ieee.org. Please see the Milestone Program Guidelines for more information.

To add attachments, first upload the file and add by adding the text:

[[Media:(filename)]]

For example, if the file you uploaded was named "Milestone Reference.pdf", include the text:

[[Media:Milestone Reference.pdf]] 

in the appropriate field.

Please email a jpeg or PDF a letter in English, or with English translation, from the site owner(s) giving permission to place IEEE milestone plaque on the property, and a letter (or forwarded email) from the appropriate Section Chair supporting the Milestone application to ieee-history@ieee.org with the subject line "Attention: Milestone Administrator." Note that there are multiple texts of the letter depending on whether an IEEE organizational unit other than the section will be paying for the plaque(s).

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