by WILL FOLKS
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For the past two decades, this media outlet has consistently argued that South Carolina’s state government – specifically a board of political appointees – has no business owning or operating a power company.
History has borne us out on that notion, too…
That’s why we’ve repeatedly called on South Carolina to offload Santee Cooper – a woefully managed, inefficient, environmentally unfriendly, high-cost power provider serving 200,000 retail customers as well as a sprawling network of electric cooperatives across the state.
Had lawmakers listened to us when we first proposed offloading this albatross nearly two decades ago, it could have saved taxpayers and ratepayers billions of dollars.
Unfortunately, Palmetto State lawmakers have steadfastly refused to listen – choosing to maintain state ownership of the power provider as part of their incessant crony capitalist machinations.
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This week, Santee Cooper announced its latest integrated resource planning proposal, which it submitted to state regulators in response to “unprecedented growth in electricity demand across the state.” Specifically, the utility announced it was anticipating peak winter demands to increase by 1,250 megawatts by 2030 and 1,375 megawatts by 2040 compared to estimates published just three years ago.
Parts of the plan are commendable – including the upcoming launch of the Canadys Station in early 2033. Canadys is a national gas combined cycle (NGCC) facility in Colleton County which, upon completion, will provide approximately 2,200 megawatts of energy – enough to power more than a million homes.
Candays won’t be enough on its own, though, as Santee Cooper noted that “a new NGCC resource is needed in 2035 to meet continued load growth and support future retirement of coal units.” The company indicated it was eyeing a potential site in Hampton County, S.C., where it planned to “begin environmental assessments” as soon as possible.
That announcement enraged eco-radicals, who accused Santee Cooper of doubling down on “expensive new gas plants.” Santee Cooper has clearly been behind the curve in retiring its coal-fired facilities, with its latest plan announcing reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to 43% of 2005 levels by 2035 and 40% by 2050.
That doesn’t mean building out new natural gas units is a bad idea, though – especially given how successful they have been in reducing CO2 emissions as more efficient, consistent renewable alternatives come online slowly.
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RELATED | DUKE ENERGY’S NUCLEAR PLAY
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As our media outlet has previously reported, natural gas has been the key component in lowering carbon emissions in the United States over the past two decades. Last year, our nation emitted 4.904 million metric tons of CO2 – down 18.6% from a peak of 6.02 million metric tons in 2007, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
That reduction has been driven almost exclusively by natural gas replacing coal-fired power.
Santee Cooper’s new gas plant is necessary if the utility expects to retire the coal-powered Winyah Generating Station in Georgetown, S.C. by 2034. However, the company noted “the actual retirement of Winyah will not occur until sufficient resources are available to reliably serve Santee Cooper’s growing customer base.”
In other words, there is no date certain for the Winyah facility to go offline…
Santee Cooper also indicated it had no plans to shut down the much larger Cross Generating Station in Pineville, S.C., which generates 2,350 megawatts of power.
FITSNews has been harshly critical of Santee Cooper in recent years – on numerous fronts – urging lawmakers to get the Palmetto State out of the power business and route any proceeds from the mismanaged utility’s sale to taxpayers. Count on us to keep close tabs on the utility as it confronts its challenging future…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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