The Southern Company believes that the best option to provide cost competitive, environmentally friendly electricity to it’s customers is to use IGCC technology and locally mined Mississippi lignite. Mississippi Power, a Southern Company subsidiary, filed an application for a certification of public convenience and neccessity for a coal gasification plant to be constructed in Kemper County, Mississippi. The plant, Kemper County IGCC Project, will generate 582 megawatts using Mississippi lignite for feedstock.

The Kemper County IGCC Project will use the KBR proprietary TRIG gasification technology developed by KBR and Southern Company. This gasification technology is capable of using low rank coal such as lignite, coals with high moisture content or high ash content. The TRIG technology can be configured for both air blown and oxygen blown operation depending on the requirements of each specific project. The Southern Company has provided the EPA information for the public about the TRIG technology.

The NETL, a Department of Energy (DOE) agency, has selected the Kemper County IGCC Project to receive DOE funding through the Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI 2). The DOE will provide $293,750,000 for scope of work in which the DOE is participating under the Clean Coal Power Initiative.

The total estimated cost of the project is listed in the DOE fact sheet as $1,625,082,040, but a more recent Southern Company Kemper County IGCC news release shows the estimated cost to be $2.2 billion. With the current project schedule, construction will begin in 2010 and the plant startup will be in 2013.

The project will capture CO2 for sequestration in existing mature oil fields using enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques. The project will also meet or exceed all standards for sulfur, mercury and other regulated pollutants.