Mississippi Power to Proceed with Kemper IGCC Project

Mississippi Power Co. on Thursday said it would proceed with plans to build a 582-MW integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant as proposed in Kemper County after the Mississippi Public Service Commission (MPSC) relaxed restrictions it had placed on the project.

The utility was last month considering scrapping the project after regulators approved its request to build the lignite plant but ordered a cost recovery cap of $2.4 billion—some $800 million less than what the utility had originally sought. The order also required the Southern Co. subsidiary to pay all construction costs.

But earlier last week, the PSC voted 2–1 to ease restrictions, ruling that construction costs passed on to ratepayers could be no more than $2.88 billion. The regulatory body also said that costs could go no higher unless it could show that costs for concrete, steel, and other building materials had increased.

The plant is expected to begin generating power by 2014. It will use Mississippi lignite, an affordable, abundant natural resource that is largely unused. More than 4 billion tons of lignite are underground in Kemper County, and it has options on 30,000 acres, the utility said.

Sources: Mississippi Power Co., POWERnews