Energy reporters, political reporters, environmental reporters and other interested media are invited to attend the official opening of The Southern Company’s Power Systems Development Facility, a clean-coal research project funded in large part by the Department of Energy.

The event begins 10 a.m. CDT Thursday, April 11, at the facility, located in Wilsonville, Ala., about 30 miles south of Birmingham, Ala. DOE officials, U.S. senators and representatives, state legislators and local officials have been invited. A tour of the facility and lunch will follow a brief ceremony.

The research facility is a small-scale power plant using cutting-edge technology to gasify, clean and burn coal. The developing technology could lead to power plants that produce the same amount electricity while using only two-thirds the coal consumed by a conventional plant.