Alabama Power today announced it has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to continue testing advanced mercury control technologies. Alabama Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company, will install and test an innovative mercury control process at its E. C. Gaston generation plant in Shelby County near Wilsonville, Ala.

As part of the process, activated carbon and potentially other materials will be injected into an existing baghouse ash-collection system already installed on the plant site. The materials will absorb the mercury, which could result in substantial emissions reduction. Plant Gaston was the site chosen by DOE for the nation's first full-scale mercury control testing in 2000. This initial work on the technology was completed in 2001, with reductions of greater than 80 percent achieved.

The additional long-term mercury control testing will be performed to mature the technology. This one-year test will more fully assess the cost and performance of the technology over time as well as its impacts on the operation of the entire generating plant. The project team hopes to build on the previous successes and learn more of the capabilities and limitations of the technology.

"This project re-affirms the commitment of Alabama Power and Southern Company to explore ways to provide our customers with reliable, affordable electricity that is cleaner than ever," said Jerry Stewart, senior vice president, Alabama Power Company and executive vice president and chief production officer, Southern Company Generation and Energy Marketing. "Coal is essential to the nation's energy supply, and we want to be at the forefront of developing efficient and effective control solutions."

The mercury control system to be used at Plant Gaston has been developed by ADA-Environmental Solutions, a subsidiary of Earth Sciences, Inc., based in Colorado. The process of injecting sorbents, such as activated carbon, for mercury control before a baghouse but after an electrostatic precipitator so that the sorbent and fly ash are collected separately is an EPRI-patented process called TOXECON™.

"Sorbent injection continues to be the most promising technology available to reduce emissions of mercury from coal-fired power plants," said Dr. Michael Durham, president of ADA-ES. "The control system that was initially tested at Plant Gaston was shown to provide significant reductions in mercury emissions. Continued testing of the technology will provide valuable information on long- term operational impacts. DOE continuously supports efforts such as this. They have taken a leadership role over the past decade in working with industry and technology developers to provide cost-effective mercury control technologies."

Alabama Power and Southern Company will work with ADA-ES, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Allegheny Energy, Arch Coal Inc. (ACI), FirstEnergy, Hamon Research-Cottrell, Ontario Power Generation and TVA. DOE will fund 55 percent of the $2.1 million project cost with Alabama Power and the other participating companies co-funding the remaining 45 percent. Testing will begin in early 2003.

"We have made great progress in controlling emissions of nitrogen oxides. Now we face the more difficult challenge of controlling mercury, which is found in only trace quantities in coal," said Dr. Charles Goodman, senior vice president, research and environmental affairs for Southern Company. "We are excited to participate in this second phase of the technology development where we will learn about the long-term performance and reliability of activated carbon injection. We take pride in our continuing effort to play a leadership role in developing innovative approaches to lessening the impact of our operations on the environment."

Alabama Power and Southern Company are among the industry leaders in advanced environmental control technologies. The company's Power Systems Development Facility, also located near Plant Gaston, is researching innovative technologies that could allow power plants to make the same amount of electricity while burning one-third less coal. The technologies also remove or reduce sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide and particles from the coal combustion process.

Alabama Power is working aggressively to reduce its impact on the environment. Since 1990, Alabama Power has eliminated 44 percent of the company's per megawatt-hour emissions of nitrogen oxides by using cleaner fuels and installing NOx-reduction technology. The company currently is investing $500 million to further reduce NOx emissions and expects to invest a total of at least $1.5 billion between now and 2010 to further reduce total emissions.

Alabama Power, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Company , provides reliable, affordable electricity to more than 1.3 million customers across Alabama. Southern Company serves 4 million customers with nearly 37,000 megawatts of generating capacity. Southern Company has more than 500,000 shareholders, making its common stock one of the most widely held in the United States.

ADA Environmental Solutions, LLC is an environmental technology and specialty chemical company headquartered in Littleton, Colorado. The company brings 25 years of experience to improve profitability for electric power and industrial companies through proprietary products and systems that mitigate environmental impact while reducing operating costs. ADA-ES is a subsidiary of Earth Sciences, whose common stock trades on the OTCBB under the symbol ESCI.

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SOURCE: Alabama Power Company