Utility Southern Co.’s costly effort to produce clean energy from coal met a major milestone on Oct. 12, when its Kemper County, Miss., integrated gasification combined-cycle plant produced the first kilowatt of electricity with synthetic fuel made from local lignite. But key operational, financial, regulatory and legal hurdles remain before the $6.9-billion project—more than two years behind schedule and some $5 billion over its original cost estimate—begins to function commercially.
The highly touted facility converts the lignite to synthesis gas using two gasifiers that, in turn, will fire two combustion turbines to produce 582 MW. The plant uses a high-efficiency design developed by Atlanta-based Southern, which also extracts carbon dioxide and other pollutants. The initial electricity was produced by a mix of the synthesis gas and natural gas. The next steps include producing power with only syngas and the restart of the second gasifier.