$6 Billion "Clean Coal" Fiasco In MS "An Asset"; Workforce Going From 285 To 40 W. NG Conversion

[hatrack]

As Mississippi Power Co., Public Utilities Staff and others struggle to come to an equitable agreement, the utility’s CEO maintains that the power plant was and will continue to be an asset to the area, “This is the biggest project in the history of Mississippi,” said Mississippi Power Chairman, President and CEO Anthony L. Wilson, who visited The Meridian Star on Monday. “Can you imagine what the recession of 2009 would have been had we not invested $7 billion in Mississippi?”

Wilson said the lignite coal gasification operation was far from a failure. One of the problems, he said, was the decrease in the price of natural gas, mainly due to fracking. If money was “unlimited, I think we would have gotten there,” he said. “The plant worked — it did exactly what we wanted it to do,” Wilson said. “The problem was we could never make the process work consistently.”

EDIT

he commission in July ordered the utility and other parties to reach a settlement concerning the plant within 45 days. The order included relicensing the plant as a natural gas facility and ensuring that rates do not increase. The commission also suggested that customers see a decrease in rates. Mississippi Power and Public Utilities Staff were unable to reach a settlement by Aug. 21, so the commission extended the deadline to Sept. 5, which has since passed.

According to a recent Associated Press report, Mississippi Power says it wants customers to pay for $277 million more in assets than the Public Utilities Staff believes is necessary. Atlanta-based Southern Co., the parent company of Mississippi Power, announced recently that it would absorb an additional $2.8 billion in losses from the Kemper County power plant’s lignite coal operation — bringing the total to nearly $6 billion in losses.

EDIT

http://www.meridianstar.com/news/local_news/mississippi-power-kemper-plant-was-will-remain-asset-to-state/article_41cb1098-380d-5e05-91c2-241b38761e89.html

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Wonder how big of a solar panel farm they could have had for $6 billion.