Mississippi Power has once again extended the in-service date for its new energy facility in Kemper County while adding $38 million to the project price tag.
The recent announcement is not the first delay announced by the Southern Co. subsidiary during the project's lifetime. In addition to the funds already doled out to get the facility on line, the company will now shell out $22 million just to extend the projected schedule until the end of May 2017.
In the coming month, the company will also pay out $8 million for startup fuel and $8 million to repair the outage.
The company cited a leak in one of the particulate control devices for one gasifier as its reasoning for pushing the in-service date back.
While it has not been formally announced if the possibility exists for yet another extension at the end of May, the pattern thus far has been one of frustration for the company as it seeks to finally get the multi-billion dollar facility running at full capacity.
The total cost of the facility currently exceeds $7 billion.
Last month, a tubing leak was found in one of the plant’s gasifiers, which provided a major recent setback to the plant. Construction initially began in 2008, but a slew of problems has kept it from running at a full clip.
The company said in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that further cost increases and/or extensions of the expected in-service date may result from factors including difficulties integrating the systems required for sustained operations, sustaining nitrogen supply, continued issues with ash removal systems, major equipment failure, unforeseen engineering or design problems and operational performance.
Any extension past the May 31 in-service date is estimated to result in additional base costs of roughly $25 million to $35 million per month.