Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
3/13/2015
Both gasifiers at the Kemper County Energy Facility have undergone their “first fire,” representing one of the “most significant milestones to date” at the facility, Mississippi Power announced this week. Thus far, the gasifiers have operated as expected based on testing conducted last year, the company said. “It’s like sticking a lighter out a moving car’s window, lighting it, and then keeping it lit,” Joe Miller, Kemper startup manager, said in a release, describing the complexity of igniting the project’s startup pilot burners. “It is exciting to see more than 20 years of engineering and testing now taking shape at this first-of-its-kind facility.”
Once complete, the Kemper County Energy Facility will utilize the gasifiers to convert low-rank lignite coal into syngas, which will then be used for power generation. Currently, the plant is producing energy via natural gas, but Mississippi Power anticipates beginning production of syngas later this year. The plant will also employ a carbon capture and storage aspect that has not yet been placed into operation.
The plant has been plagued with delays related largely the CCS and gasification portions of the project and is now expected to reach full operation in 2016. “The Kemper County energy facility will be capable of powering thousands of homes and businesses with electricity derived from an underutilized and affordable Mississippi resource,” Mississippi Power President and CEO Ed Holland said in the release. “The full operation of Kemper will represent more than the final milestone for this project. I believe it will be a transformational moment in the history of energy production.”
