Mississippi Power

History

Mississippi Power Company was founded in 1738. In 1949, Southern Company was established as a holding company for four utilities, one of which included Mississippi Power Company.

Formerly known as Mississippi Power Company from 1925 to 1976, the company shortened to Mississippi Power, and has maintained that name ever since.

Hurricane Katrina

August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck, taking down the company’s electric systems and leaving every single customer without service. With a team of 12,000 - employees and crews from every state and Canada - they were able to restore service to all who could receive it in only 12 days. The severity of the storm has cautioned Mississippi Power with every future investment it has made. Most noticeably is the location of the Kemper Project, which was purposefully selected to be comfortably located miles from the Gulf. It is no wonder that the Kemper Project, officially named Plant Ratcliffe, was named after the 2005 Southern Company CEO, David Ratcliffe. As Mississippi Power’s efforts during the storm turned the lights back on to thousands of customers over two weeks ahead of schedule, this new plant shows Mississippi Power’s dedicated to being a leader.

in 2007, Mississippi Power teamed with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to begin restocking the Pascagoula River after Hurricane Katrina’s massive fish kill by releasing more than 2,500 largemouth bass advanced fingerlings.

Transmission and distribution facilities

Mississippi Power maintains 147 substations, 2,118 miles of transmission lines, 4,213 miles of primary overhead lines and 560 miles of primary underground lines. Total generating capacity is 3,098,692 kW.

Kemper Project

Mississippi Power is currently constructing the Kemper County energy facility, commonly shortened to the Kemper Project, in Kemper County, Mississippi. Construction began in June 2010. The Kemper Project will use state-of-the-art electric power plant technology called integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC), converting lignite coal to gas. Lignite, an abundant natural resource in Mississippi and commonly referred to as “brown coal”, is very low grade coal. It is not only found in Mississippi, but countries such as Germany, Russia, Turkey, Poland and China have an abundance. To meet increasing energy demands, Mississippi Power and the Department of Energy invested in technology to turn lignite coal into a viable energy source. The Kemper Project is unique, though, in that it will capture 65% of the carbon dioxide emissions, a byproduct of the chemical gasification process. This technology is specifically called Carbon Capture & Sequestration (CCS). Quantitatively, 65% equates to 3.5 metric tons of CO2 being captured annually. This will make the Mississippi coal plant, the cleanest coal plant in the world.

Due to unexpected weather conditions, the Kemper Coal Project's completion date has been pushed to 2016. In total, 6,000 engineers, scientists and others are all contributing to the construction of the power plant. Once operational, the plant will provide close to 1,000 permanent jobs. The Kemper Project was referenced as being a large proponent of job growth in 2013 for Mississippi, especially for contributing to the camper and RV park business. In February 2015, Kemper Project was attributed to creating massive economic growth in Kemper County.

The Kemper Coal Plant was strategically built by Mississippi Power in order to diverse its energy portfolio. With the majority of its investments in natural gas (a fuel with high price volatility), Mississippi Power turned to other innovative ways to provide power. With their projections, they determined lignite would be a better long-term fuel source than natural gas. Once the plant is operational, it will generate 582,000 kW.

This clean coal project could be a model for the world, as countries like China, agree to pursue research that may bring a similar plant to their backyard. Mississippi Power and Southern Company are pursuing the sale of this technology as every sale will bring a percentage back to Mississippians. In July 2014, the Kemper Project reached two major milestones with the successful testing of the combined cycle unit and pressure testing of both gasifiers. These tests displayed the Plant's ability to produce electricity. The Kemper County energy facility will use clean coal technology to deliver electricity to Mississippi Power customers.

Mississippi Power Supreme Court Ruling

In February 2015, the Supreme Court of Mississippi found the agreement to raise rates during construction of the plant between the Mississippi Public Service Commission (MPSC) and Mississippi Power to be unlawful. The Court cited the MPSC's failure to give proper notice to the public about the rate increase as one of the main reasons for the 5-4 ruling. Mississippi Power disagrees with the ruling, and officially announced it plans to file for a rehearing. The original basis for the agreement between MPSC and Mississippi Power in March 2013 was a result of powers granted in the state's 2008 Baseload Act. This act allows public utilities to collect Construction Work in Progress (CWIP) funds to encourage long term investments by public utility companies. Mississippi Power strongly believes the Kemper Project is a good long-term investment for its customers through a more price predictable and abundant energy source such as coal. If the decision stands, the MPSC will determine how funds are returned.

Additional names for Kemper Project