Southern Company announced today that the company has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to build an advanced 285-megawatt coal gasification facility in central Florida as part of the energy department’s Clean Coal Power Initiative. The plant will gasify coal using state-of-the-art emissions controls, showcasing the cleanest, most efficient coal-fired power technology in the world.

The technology to be used is based on the transport gasifier that Southern Company, DOE and others have been developing at the Power Systems Development Facility near Wilsonville, Ala.

“For more than a decade, we have been involved with DOE and various partners in the development of a technology to help ensure that our nation’s and the world’s abundant coal reserves can provide clean, reliable and affordable energy,” said David Ratcliffe, Southern Company’s chairman, president and chief executive officer. “We believe this plant will demonstrate that coal can and should be a part of a cleaner energy future.”

The transport gasifier offers a simpler, more robust method for generating energy from coal than other available alternatives. It is unique among coal gasification technologies in that it is cost-effective when handling low rank coal, as well as coals with high moisture or high ash content. These coals make up half the proven U.S. and worldwide reserves.

The plant will turn the coal into gas for generating electricity while significantly reducing emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury. In addition, the technology produces 20 to 25 percent less carbon dioxide, on average, than coal-based generation in place today. Southern Company’s partner in the project is Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC). Southern Company is developing the facility through its Southern Power subsidiary, which builds, owns, and manages the company’s competitive generation assets.

“Through our long-term partnership with DOE, we have been a leader in research and development of cleaner, alternative generation technologies,” said Ratcliffe. “We hope to further that partnership through the coal gasification project.”

Current plans are for the facility to be built at OUC’s Stanton Energy Center in Orange County, Fla., near Orlando. The cost of the project will be shared by DOE, Southern Company and OUC. The expected date for commercial operation is early 2010.

The project is expected to create more than 300 primary jobs and more than 1,500 secondary jobs. In addition, $160 million of manufactured products are expected to be purchased from existing manufacturing facilities during the project’s three-year construction timetable.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to work once again with Orlando Utilities Commission,” added Ratcliffe. “We already jointly own a 600-megawatt, combined cycle facility at the Stanton Energy Center with OUC and others, and this new project demonstrates a strong partnership in helping meet the growing energy needs of Florida and the nation.”

Established in 1923 and owned by the citizens of Orlando, OUC—The Reliable One provides electric and water services to more than 190,000 customers in Orlando, St. Cloud and parts of unincorporated Orange and Osceola counties. OUC is the second-largest public power utility in Florida. With a longstanding commitment to the environment – and a history of operating power plants that are among the cleanest in the nation – OUC has invested more than $200 million in state-of-the-art environmental protection equipment to safeguard the air, water and quality of life in Central Florida. Visit OUC’s Web site at www.ouc.com.

With more than 4 million customers and nearly 39,000 megawatts of generating capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is the premier super-regional energy company in the Southeast and a leading U.S. producer of electricity. Southern Company owns electric utilities in four states, a growing competitive generation company, an energy services business and a competitive retail natural gas business, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications. Southern Company brands are known for excellent customer service, high reliability and retail electric prices that are 15 percent below the national average. Southern Company has been named three consecutive years No. 1 on Fortune magazine’s “America’s Most Admired Companies” list in the Electric and Gas Utility industry. Southern Company has been ranked the nation’s top energy utility in the American Customer Satisfaction Index five years in a row. Southern Company has more than 500,000 shareholders, making its common stock one of the most widely held in the United States. Visit the Southern Company Web site at www.southerncompany.com.