What is TRIG?

The Kemper County energy facility is an electric power plant using an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) design called TRIG^™ technology.

TRIG^™ was developed over the last two decades at the Power Systems Development Facility (PSDF) in Wilsonville, Alabama – a research facility for the Department of Energy and Southern Company.

A unique feature of the TRIG^™ technology is the high-efficiency design that sends lignite not converted to gas in the initial process back for a second round of gasification. This allows a high rate of lignite-to-gas conversion to take place at a lower temperature — and thus lower cost — than what’s possible with other available gasification technologies.

TRIG^™ produces gas that can be used to generate electricity while making it easier to remove emissions, such as carbon dioxide, that otherwise would end up in the atmosphere.

TRIG^™ Facts

• TRIG^™ is a superior coal-gasification method with low impacts to our environment.
• TRIG^™ technology can utilize lignite, which accounts for more than half of the world’s vast coal reserves. It offers a simpler and more robust method than most existing coal-gasification technologies.
• TRIG^™ technology also produces more power and offers lower capital cost as well as lower operation and maintenance cost than what is possible with other available gasification technologies.
• With TRIG^™ technology, the Kemper plant will turn Mississippi lignite into a clean gas while reducing emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide and mercury. The TRIG^™ technology will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by at least 65 percent – with resulting carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to a similarly sized natural gas combined cycle power plant.