How South Carolina’s energy bill would ensure a bright future for a state at a crossroads | Opinion

South Carolina has an energy problem. South Carolina’s legislators are moving deliberately toward a solution.

For years, people and industries have flocked to South Carolina to live, work and build operations in our beautiful, business-friendly state. Now, we are at a crossroads, with continued economic prosperity and quality of life at stake. Keeping the lights on requires long-term planning, and South Carolina needs new and reliable power generation to support future success.

There are real hurdles facing the electric utilities responsible for building that generation. It already takes four years to order and receive a combustion turbine, for example. And the longer we wait, the taller the hurdles become.

Currently, I and other executives at Santee Cooper, South Carolina’s state-owned power and water utility, are monitoring 21 companies considering operations here. It would take two large generating stations just to power the combined energy needs of those 21 companies.

Legislators have spent much of the past two years studying these issues and considering the best course forward. Their work led to House Bill 3309, the wide-ranging Energy Security Act introduced by South Carolina Speaker Murrell Smith in January, passed by the House in February, passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee last week and now up for consideration by the full Senate.

State-owned Santee Cooper’s core responsibility is to deliver reliable, safe and affordable electricity to about 2 million South Carolinians. Santee Cooper supports the Energy Security Act because it will help us meet that responsibility.

The bill would let Santee Cooper partner with Dominion Energy South Carolina to build a new, efficient natural gas generating unit. We plan to build the station near Canadys, a former power plant site with existing transmission and other helpful infrastructure. This partnership would allow us to build a larger plant than either utility would build separately, saving costs and ensuring reliability for customers of both utilities.

Santee Cooper also intends to add 1,800 megawatts of new solar power in the next seven years, additional natural gas generation to keep the lights on when the sun isn’t shining, battery storage to optimize our other generating resources, and demand-side management resources to reduce customer demand. It’s a balanced portfolio that will protect reliability and affordability for our customers.

The Energy Security Act would streamline important regulatory reviews so we can build this portfolio. For instance, the act adds deadlines at critical points, meaning we can count on timely decisions rather than lingering in limbo. I’ll take a fast “no” over a long “maybe” every time — because it lets us quickly pivot to alternative options.

Despite what opponents would have you believe, the bill does not allow utilities to bypass federal or state regulatory oversight. We would still need Public Service Commission approval of our state-mandated Integrated Resource Plans and our other specific plans to build individual generating units. We would still need to obtain all required state and federal permits. Santee Cooper would also receive additional oversight from the legislature’s Joint Bond Review Committee to finance the project. All of these processes are public and include opportunity for input.

The Energy Security Act has the power to solidify South Carolina’s ability to provide clean and efficient generating resources and help the state keep pace with growing residential and industrial demand. I commend Gov. Henry McMaster, Speaker Murrell Smith, state Senate President Thomas Alexander, Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey and other state leaders who focused on this important topic, and I thank the House and Senate Committees led by Rep. Bill Herbkersman and Sen. Luke Rankin, respectively, who did the in-depth review of the legislative proposals.

The entire General Assembly has provided important input and guidance throughout this process, and I will be supporting them all the way to their finish line — which will let the state’s electric utilities power a bright future for all South Carolinians.