2014 has been a big year for clean coal.

On April 11th, July 11th, and December 3rd, the world made progress in clean energy.  On each of these days, a Memorandum of Understanding, or MoU, was signed between Southern Company and the Shenhua Group, the Clean Energy Research Center, and China Huaneng Power, respectively.  The idea behind these agreements is to share best practices and lessons learned on carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology for power.  Southern Company’s expertise on this technology comes from the investment it has made with Mississippi Power and the Kemper Coal Plant (Kemper County energy facility) in Mississippi.

April 11

In an agreement that could lead to broad commercialization of Southern Co.’s proprietary coal gasification technology, the Atlanta-based utility signed a memorandum of understanding with China’s Shenhua Group to collaborate in the further research, development and deployment of clean coal technologies in the United States, China and around the world.

July 11

The agreement between the Huaneng Clean Energy Research Institute and Southern Company focused on near-zero emissions technology cooperation. Both parties will carry out technology cooperation on IGCC, CCUS, and heavy metal control and low-quality coal utilization in coal-fired plants.

December 3

Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning says “this agreement with Huaneng reflects our company’s belief that the technology being deployed at Kemper could help meet the world’s energy needs.”