A Mississippi power plant intended as a showcase for clean-coal technology has turned into a costly mess and the price continues to increase.
Mississippi Power Co. said Monday that it will take at least another month to finish the multibillion dollar power plant it's building in Kemper County, pushing the completion date back to Oct. 31 from Sept. 30.
The most recent delay will end of costing the plant at least another $43 million, pushing the total cost of the plant north of $6.8 billion. The plant, associated coal mine and pipelines were originally supposed to cost $2.9 billion at most, and earliest estimates were lower. Customers could be asked to pay as much as $4.2 billion, while stockholders have absorbed $2.6 billion in losses so far. The plant is the most expensive power plant ever built for the watts of electricity it will generate, according to an analysis from Sierra Club.
The Kemper Project, which is central to President Obama’s Climate Plan, will be the first-of-its-kind electricity plant to employ gasification and carbon capture technologies at a large scale. If the plant ever reaches its full potential, it will be able to produce electricity from coal and eliminate the majority of emissions that are emitted by a traditional coal plant.
The big point is that Mississippi Power has shown that the plant can work, after starting producing synthetic gas using lignite. This proves that the technology at the plant can provide a way forward for coal and moves the plant closer to fully operational.
However, the question must be asked, “Is the cost worth it?”
Mississippi Power customers are being forced to foot the bill for the project after the Mississippi Public Service commission voted to raise the rates on its 186,000 customers by $126 million a year to help pay for portions of the project.
The project is over two years behind schedule, but the road less traveled is a difficult one. Is the cost a major burden to the customers, yes, but does this technology have the possibility to revolutionize the energy business, yes.
If progress is continuing to happen, then the project must continue to help make a cleaner environment.
