PASCAGOULA, Mississippi — Mississippi Power President and CEO Ed Holland is proud of the ballyhooed Kemper County plant.
He is not proud of the escalating costs and delayed schedule that have swirled in controversy and overshadowed the $600 million scrubber project at Jackson County’s Plant Daniel that is on track and on budget.
Those were among the topics Holland spoke about Wednesday at the Pascagoula Rotary Club’s weekly luncheon at the Grand Magnolia Ballroom.
“Kemper is a technological marvel and it’s a first-of-a-kind technology in terms of its ability to burn lignite and low-grade coal,” Holland said. “It will be, when it’s done, the cleanest coal plant in the world and that’s something we’re very, very proud of.”
The latest price tag on the sprawling Kemper facility is $5.5 billion and it is now not expected to go online until sometime in 2015.
The company has a prudency hearing before the Mississippi Public Service Commission the week of Sept. 9 to determine whether the company was frugal with its spending on the project through March 31, 2013 – the initial $2.75 billion spent on the facility.
“I believe fundamentally that we will look back and we will be proud of what we’ve done in the state of Mississippi, not only for our customers, but for the state, domestically for the U.S. and the future of the coal worldwide. The world is watching.
“I’m not so proud of the face that we’ve gone so far over budget with respect to the plant. I’m not proud of the fact that the schedule has slipped as far as the schedule has slipped. But I’m proud of that the Southern Company is standing behind what we committed to do.”
Gulflive
6/18/14
