COLUMBIA, S.C. — A committee tasked with looking at ways to combat the state's energy crisis is considering authorizing a partnership between major utilities on a joint power plant. The authorization would open the door for Dominion and Santee Cooper to work together on a proposed transformation of the retired Canadys coal plant on the Edisto River into a gas plant.
Advocates say it's one of the state's best options to meet the rising needs of energy in the state. The committee discussed both the gas plant and picking back up on the two half-built nuclear reactors at the VC Summer site in Fairfield County.
"The genesis of this whole idea, again, isn't just about Santee Cooper, isn't just about Dominion. It isn't just about Scout, pick whatever business entity that's out there. It's about people who need power," said Sen, Luke Rankin, R-Horry. " The best, most efficient, cheapest, readily doable option is this Canadys gas powered plant."
While Dominion is a private company, Santee Cooper is a state-owned utility, so a partnership would require lawmakers' approval, similar to what was given to Santee Cooper and Dominion's predecessor, SCE&G, for the VC Summer nuclear project. The committee discussed drafting legislation that would authorize a partnership, but not indicating a particular site or plan for a new facility. The utilities would only be authorized to submit a joint application for a facility like the Canadys plant to the Public Service Commission, who would vet the actual project.
"The public service commission would have to decide the adequacy of the site, whether it makes sense, all the normal stuff they do." said Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg. "What we didn’t want to do is to sort of preordain to the Public Service Commission that they had to do one way or the other."
But the endeavor would be costly. It's intended to meet projections of a massive increase in energy needs by 2032, but if the state doesn't end up needing the amount of energy projected, ratepayers would still have to front the cost of the undertaking, says John Brooker with the Conservation Voters of South Carolina.
"To put it into perspective, the Canadys facility as proposed at 2000 megawatts or two gigawatts, that's a very large facility to be very expensive. This would be one of the largest in the nation, and so we heard in the Senate that this will be roughly $2.3 to $2.5 billion and it was unclear whether that also includes a major pipeline and transmission upgrade." said Brooker. "The key thing that also doesn't include, which often costs more than the power plant itself, is the fuel."
Brooker says they think smaller projects could incrementally help meet the projected energy needs, which could vary over the next several years.
"To put all your eggs in this basket, and then the load that we're expecting doesn't show up, then you and me pay the cost through our power bill," said Brooker.
If lawmakers authorize a partnership, the next step would be an application by the two utilities to the Public Service Commission.
Both utilities said in a statement to News 19 that they have no plans to own or operate either of the half-built reactors at the VC Summer Site at this time.