Facts:

Mississippi Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company, is progressing with plans to build and operate a 582MW lignite-fired IGCC plant at Kemper County in Mississippi. The project will use two transport integrated gasifier trains, and aims to capture 3.5 million tonnes of CO2 per annum. The project began construction during 2011.

The plant will include carbon capture and sequestration, which aims to reduce 65% of the facility's CO2 emissions. Captured CO2 will then be transported by pipeline for use on EOR projects, and at least one CO2 buyer has already been secured.

Southern Company has been working with partner KBR to develop a more efficient gasification process for low-rank coals, such as Mississippi’s abundant lignite resource.  The Kemper County IGCC Project will be a scaled-up version of a plant already developed by Southern Company and KBR, in conjunction with the US Department of Energy, at its Power Systems Development Facility in Alabama.

Financing

The company made a final investment decision in May 2010, and has capped its investment at around $2.4 billion. The project was selected for US$270 million in funding by the second round of the US Department of Energy's Clean Coal Power Initiative, to demonstrate the IGCC technology. It has also received $412 million in investment tax credits from the revenue service.

Timing

Kemper County IGCC has obtained Public Service Commission approvals, and construction began during 2011. The plant aims to begin operating in 2014.

More information and press releases

Project brochure

Denbury CO2 purchase deal, March 2011

Mississippi Power decides to go ahead with Kemper, May 2010

Main developer

Mississippi Power

Homepage:

http://www.mississippipower.com/kemper/F