ATLANTA – Australian Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson AM MP, toured Southern Company’s Kemper County plant this week labeling the facility a case study for Australia as the country explores options in carbon capture technology.

The plant, which is under construction in Mississippi and scheduled for commercial operation in 2014, uses technology developed by Southern Company and its partners in gasifying coal as a fuel source for generating electricity. The facility will use local lignite and is designed to capture 65 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions.

Mississippi Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company, is constructing the plant, which will be one of the world's first electric generating facilities equipped with carbon capture technology.  Kemper County is a 582-megawatt integrated gasification combined cycle facility.  The gasification technology allows not only for the removal of a high percentage of the carbon dioxide from the coal but also 90 percent of the mercury, 99 percent of particulate matter and 99 percent of the sulfur dioxide.

Minister Ferguson expressed a keen interest in the technology being commercialized at Kemper County and its potential application in Australia's coal-fired power dominated energy sector.

Supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Mississippi Power's capital investment in the Kemper County facility is approximately $2.4 billion.  Approximately 300 permanent jobs from the plant and mine operations, plus 2,000 jobs during peak construction will be created.

Australia and the United States continue to work together on carbon capture and storage (CCS), including through the Global CCS Institute, the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum, the International Energy Agency, the Clean Energy Ministerial Forum and the Carbon Capture Use and Storage Action Group.

With 4.4 million customers and more than 42,000 megawatts of generating capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is the premier energy company serving the Southeast. A leading U.S. producer of electricity, Southern Company is the parent firm of electric utilities in four states and a growing competitive generation company, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications companies. Southern Company brands are known for excellent customer service, high reliability and retail electric prices that are below the national average. Southern Company was named the World’s Most Admired Electric and Gas Utility by Fortune magazine in 2011, and is consistently listed among the top U.S. electric service providers in customer satisfaction by the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Visit our website at www.southerncompany.com.

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