Mississippi Power’s integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant under construction in Kemper County, Miss., will likely be placed in service by November 30, a month later than anticipated. The delay will be costly.

Mississippi Power reached a new milestone on September 16, announcing that it had started producing syngas using the second gasifier—gasifier “A”—at the facility. Initial production of syngas at gasifier “B” began on July 14, demonstrating the viability of transport integrated gasification technology, which is being used for the first time at commercial scale, Southern Co. said in a statement.

In late August, however, gasifier B was taken offline for inspection, the company said in an October 3 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

“The removal of ash and ash deposits prior to the inspection of gasifier ‘B’ required more time than initially expected. Additional time has been added to the schedule to allow for the restart of gasifier ‘B’ and for both gasifier trains to achieve the sustained capacity levels necessary for the initial operations and testing of the syngas clean-up systems and the production of electricity using syngas,” it said.…

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