Orlando, Fla., August 24, 2010 — Siemens Energy has been awarded a contract from Mississippi Power Company, a unit of Southern Co., to supply two SGT6-PAC 5000F gas turbine packages.

These gas turbines will be installed in a coal-fired integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) power plant using Southern Co.'s proprietary TRIG gasification technology.

About 65 percent of carbon dioxide emissions from the 582-MW Kemper County power plant are expected to be captured — a reduction of three million tons of carbon per annum. The plant is expected to go into operation in mid 2014.

The Kemper County project, located in Liberty, Mississippi, is one of a group of IGCC power projects currently under development or construction in the U.S., which are expected to demonstrate that IGCC is an environmentally compatible coal or petcoke-based power generation option in a carbon constrained world.

Siemens' scope of supply comprises two gas turbine packages, each consisting of a model SGT6-5000F gas turbine with a rated capacity of 232 MW, an air-cooled generator and Siemens' innovative SPPA-T3000 power plant control system.

IGCC power plants are combined-cycle power plants with an upstream gasifier that transforms coal into a synthetic gas consisting mainly of carbon monoxide and hydrogen.

The CO is converted to carbon dioxide, which is then separated, leaving a hydrogenous gas used to fire a gas turbine. Finally, the waste heat from the gas turbine is used to generate steam to drive a downstream steam turbine, thereby producing additional power and increasing the efficiency of the overall power production process. The separated carbon is being used to improve the efficiency of petroleum extraction from nearby deposits.