Current:Home > BackSouth Carolina considers its energy future through state Senate committee-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
South Carolina considers its energy future through state Senate committee
View Date:2024-12-23 16:45:16
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina Senate on Thursday started its homework assignment of coming up with a comprehensive bill to guide energy policy in a rapidly growing state and amid a quickly changing power- generation world.
The Special Committee on South Carolina’s Energy Future plans several meetings through October. On Thursday, the committee heard from the leaders of the state’s three major utilities. Future meetings will bring in regular ratepayers, environmentalists, business leaders and experts on the latest technology to make electricity,
The Senate took this task upon itself. They put the brakes a massive 80-plus page energy overhaul bill that passed the House in March in less than six weeks, and the bill died at the end of the session.
Many senators said the process earlier this year was rushed. They remembered the last time they trusted an overhaul bill backed by utilities.
State-owned Santee Cooper and private South Carolina Electric & Gas used those rules passed 15 years ago to put ratepayers on the hook for billions of dollars spent on two new nuclear reactors that never generated a watt of power before construction was abandoned because of rising costs.
But those dire memories are being mixed with dire predictions of a state running out of power.
Unusually cold weather on Christmas Eve 2022 along with problems at a generating facility nearly led to rolling blackouts in South Carolina. Demand from advanced manufacturing and data centers is rising. If electric cars grow in popularity, more power is needed. And a state that added 1.3 million people since 2000 has a lot more air conditioners, washing machines and charges for devices, the utility leaders said.
Senators stopped Duke Energy’s president in South Carolina, Mike Callahan, in middle of his presentation after he told them his utility’s most recent predictions for growth in electricity usage over the rest of this decade were eight times more than they were just two years ago.
“Growth is here, and much more is coming. We need clear energy policy to plan for that growth,” Callahan said,
The utility leaders told senators their companies need to know what kind of sources of power — natural gas, solar, nuclear, wind or others — the state wants to emphasize. They would like to have a stable rules from regulators on how they operate.
“A quick no is a lot better to us than a long-term maybe,” Santee Cooper CEO Jimmy Staton said.
Another complicating factor are federal rules that may require utilities to shut down power plants that use coal before there are replacements with different sources online, Staton said.
Others aren’t so sure the state needs a rapid increase in power generation. Environmentalists have suggested the 2022 problems that led to blackouts were made worse because power plants were nowhere near capacity and better cooperation in the grid would allow electricity to get to where its needed easier.
Those less bullish on the overhaul also are urging the state not to lock in on one source of power over another because technology could leave South Carolina with too much power generation in inefficient ways.
There will likely be plenty of discussion of data centers that use a lot of electricity without the number of jobs, property taxes or other benefits a manufacturer provides.
Staton estimated about 70% of Santee Cooper’s increased demand is from data centers.
“We clearly need them. I don’t want to go back in time,” committee chairman Republican Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said. “What I’m trying to get at is a better understanding, a better handle on how much of the projected growth is based on data centers or on everything else.”
Massey’s goal is to have a bill ready by the time the 2025 session starts in January.
veryGood! (18282)
Related
- Advance Auto Parts is closing hundreds of stores in an effort to turn its business around
- What’s black and white and fuzzy all over? It’s 2 giant pandas, debuting at San Diego Zoo
- US men’s basketball team rallies to beat Serbia in Paris Olympics, will face France for gold medal
- Fired Philadelphia officer leaves jail to await trial after charges reduced in traffic stop death
- LSU student arrested over threats to governor who wanted a tiger at college football games
- USA Olympic Diver Alison Gibson Reacts to Being Labeled Embarrassing Failure After Dive Earns 0.0 Score
- Pnb Rock murder trial: Two men found guilty in rapper's shooting death, reports say
- US men’s basketball team rallies to beat Serbia in Paris Olympics, will face France for gold medal
- Why have wildfires been erupting across the East Coast this fall?
- Forecasters still predict highly active Atlantic hurricane season in mid-season update
Ranking
- Target will be closed on Thanksgiving: Here’s when stores open on Black Friday
- US women’s volleyball prevailed in a 5-set ‘dogfight’ vs. Brazil to play for Olympic gold
- Simone Biles Details Bad Botox Experience That Stopped Her From Getting the Cosmetic Procedure
- Today Only! Save Up to 76% on Old Navy Bottoms – Jeans, Pants, Skirts & More Starting at $6
- Martha Stewart playfully pushes Drew Barrymore away in touchy interview
- COVID-stricken Noah Lyles collapses after getting bronze, one of 8 US medals at Olympic track
- Nelly arrested, allegedly 'targeted' with drug possession charge after casino outing
- 3 Denver officers fired for joking about going to migrant shelters for target practice
Recommendation
-
Florida Man Arrested for Cold Case Double Murder Almost 50 Years Later
-
'Take care': Utah executes Taberon Dave Honie in murder of then-girlfriend's mother
-
FACT FOCUS: A look at claims made by Trump at news conference
-
Who Is Olympian Raven Saunders: All About the Masked Shot Put Star
-
Why have wildfires been erupting across the East Coast this fall?
-
Katie Ledecky, Nick Mead to lead US team at closing ceremony in Paris
-
Taylor Swift's London shows not affected by Vienna cancellations, British police say
-
American Sam Watson sets record in the speed climb but it's not enough for Olympic gold