Mississippi Power’s Kemper County coal gasification power plant has finally produced electricity.  The plant will be a leader in providing clean, safe power and will have fewer sulfur dioxide, particulate and mercury emissions than traditional coal technology.

The power, generated as part of the plant start-up process, was produced from a combination of syngas and natural gas.

“After decades of research and years of hard work at the site, we are thrilled that the Kemper County energy facility, the world’s most advanced coal plant, has generated electricity using syngas,” said Thomas A. Fanning, president and CEO of Southern Company, the parent company of Mississippi Power. “The technology at the heart of the first-of-its-kind facility provides a way forward for energy companies in the U.S. and around the world to cleanly generate electricity using an affordable and abundant resource.”

Syngas is created when the locally-mined lignite is heated at high temperatures in the plant’s gasifiers, converting the coal to gas. The syngas, which is used similarly to natural gas, produces electricity through the plant’s combustion turbines.

“The generation of electricity using syngas is just the latest example of our company’s commitment to deliver on our promise that Kemper will provide Mississippi Power customers with safe, reliable energy for decades to come,” said Anthony L. Wilson, president and CEO of Mississippi Power “Achieving this latest milestone means that we are implementing innovative 21st-century technology right here in Mississippi.”