Southern suspends work on Kemper coal gasification units

Southern Co. is "immediately suspending start-up and operations activities" on the gasifier units of its Kemper County power plant, the company said in a release Wednesday.The 582 MW plant was designed to convert locally-mined coal into a synthetic gas and capture over half of its carbon emissions. But years of cost overruns and construction delays led Mississippi regulators to direct the utility to draw up a plan for the plant to run solely on natural gas, prompting Southern's decision.Mississippi Power, Southern's subsidiary in the state, will continue to operate the Kemper plant as a combined cycle natural gas facility. Shareholders have already lost $3.1 billion on the plant and the utility could be on the hook for $3.4 billion more if the utility cannot reach a settlement with regulator