Any extension of the start-up beyond June 30, 2016 will result in an additional $25 million to $30 million a month, the company said.
Advertisement
Mississippi Power says it will absorb at least $110 million in increases. The test is used as a major step before injecting lignite in the gasifiers for final operational testing. Sand is injected into the gasifier under operational conditions of heat and pressure before it is tested with lignite.
“The testing of the gasifier at Kemper is a huge step toward achieving full operation of the project in the first half of 2016”, said Ed Holland, chairman and CEO of Mississippi Power. “This is one of the most important steps toward completion of the project”.
The combined cycle plant, which is composed of the electricity-generating turbines, has been operational since August 2014 on natural gas.
The company said it spent an extra $20 million in September and expects to spend another $90 million through June 30.
Nevertheless, the parent said its third-quarter earnings were $959 million, or $1.05 a share, compared with $718 million, or 80 cents, a year earlier.
“Mississippi Power does not intend to seek rate recovery for any costs related to the construction of the Kemper IGCC that exceed the $2.88 billion cost cap, net of the DOE Grants and excluding the Cost Cap Exceptions”, the filing says.
Britton has also criticized the plant’s overruns, and said he opposes the 18 percent rate hike previously approved by the PSC.
Further delays and other problems mean Mississippi Power Co.’s Kemper County power plant is likely to cost another $159 million, the company announced Tuesday.
Advertisement
The plant and associated lignite coal mine were originally supposed to cost $2.8 billion at most, but customers could pay nearly $4.2 billion if the Mississippi Public Service Commission approves. The company has revised its cost estimate subject to the cost cap for the Kemper project to include approximately $110 million in cost increases for September.
