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<\/a>\r\nOnly a few months after\r\n\r\nthe last cost overruns<\/a>,\r\nJeff Amy wrote for AP 2 July 2013,\r\n\r\nMiss. Power: More overruns at Kemper power plant:\r\n$4.45B price tag latest estimate<\/a>,\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\nThe unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co. told stockholders on Monday\r\nthat an ongoing review of costs at the coal-fired plant initially\r\nhas identified at least another $160 million in cost increases.\r\n<\/p>\r\n
\r\nMississippi Power spokeswoman Amoi Geter said Southern Co.\r\nshareholders would absorb any cost increases. The parent company was\r\nhit with $540 million in charges in April, although the after-tax\r\ncost to shareholders was lower. In a January settlement with\r\nMississippi regulators, the company agreed to shield customers from\r\nfurther cost increases.\r\n<\/p>\r\n
\r\nThe overruns could push the cost of the plant, adjoining lignite\r\nmine and associated pipelines to $4.45 billion. That’s more than\r\n$1.1 billion above original estimates.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n
\r\nIt’s only supposed to produce 582 megawatts if ever completed.\r\nSO could have already built far more solar and wind power\r\nfor that $4.45 billion, on time and on budget.\r\n<\/p>\r\n
\r\nWhy is\r\n\r\nPlant Ratcliffe Kemper IGCC<\/a> so late and so expensive?\r\n<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\r\nIn a report to the Mississippi Public Service Commission,\r\nMississippi Power wrote that among the “cost pressures”\r\nwere problems with the productivity of construction labor, supplies\r\nthat the company is ordering to have on hand during the plant’s\r\nstart-up phase, and projected costs for fuel that the plant will\r\nburn during start-up.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n
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<\/a>\r\nAnd they’re now up to two MS PSC members publicly criticizing\r\nthe plant.\r\nWho knows? Mississippi’s PSC could grow a spine and cancel the thing.\r\nHm, and GA PSC could cancel Southern Company’s other\r\nbig boondoggle at Plant Vogtle.\r\n<\/p>\r\n
\r\nOr we could peer into the future if this goes on.\r\nEileen O’Grady wrote for Reuters 1 July 2013,\r\n\r\nCosts rise for Southern Co’s coal gasification plant<\/a>,\r\n<\/P>\r\n
\r\n\r\nDuke Energy completed another IGCC plant last month in Indiana,\r\nabout one year late. The 618-MW Edwardsport plant, which was not\r\nbuilt to capture carbon emissions, cost $3.5 billion, up 75 percent\r\nfrom early estimates.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n