PSC acted to preserve solar adoption instead of slowing it down
After the Columbia flood of 2015, my wife and I built back our wonderful home in the Gills Creek area off of South Beltline Boulevard with a mind towards sustainability. One feature we decided on for our residential rebuild was a solar panel system to help with our energy costs, as well as to continue a personal commitment to pursue energy efficiencies in our daily lives.
With a goal of pursuing energy efficiency and environmental protections, I was pleased to see our state Public Service Commission continue to follow through on a commitment to solar energy use in South Carolina. Their decision was literally a “make or break” opportunity, and it’s a huge relief to residential and business power customers — not to mention the whole of South Carolina’s economy — that the PSC ruled to preserve policies that promote solar rather than adopting an alternative proposal, which would have slowed solar growth in South Carolina.
Competitively-priced rooftop solar is important to the citizens and businesses of Columbia. It’s important to our small businesses and it’s critical to our success in creating the competitive foundations for attracting new business that drives economic development in Columbia and across the state. The solar industry employs 7,250 South Carolinians, and has a $1.5 billion impact on the state’s economy. Solar installations contribute more than $58.8 million to state and local tax coffers annually — dollars that help local communities build and maintain schools, roads, parks and emergency services. If the PSC had allowed an alternative solar rate proposal to proceed, these economic benefits would have been at risk.
Preserving and expanding South Carolina’s solar industry is also important because South Carolinians continue to pay some of the highest utility bills in the country. We can conserve energy and install energy efficiency measures, but there are very few ways to meaningfully reduce our power bills every month. Affordable rooftop solar programs are a welcome opportunity for some residential and business customers, providing a path to decrease their energy bills and usage. And any solar that’s installed helps every customer — not just the customer whose rooftop it’s on. The more solar we have powering homes and businesses in South Carolina, the less power the utilities need to generate from coal and gas, helping lower bills for everyone over time and reducing pollution — particularly in communities where coal and gas power plants are located.
The City of Columbia is doing our part. We established a community-wide goal of transitioning to 100 percent clean and renewable energy by 2036. In fact, we’re the first city in South Carolina to power all City Council meetings with renewable energy. We’ve converted 95 percent of the city’s traffic lights to energy-efficient LED technology, and we’re actively identifying more opportunities to reduce our use of electricity sources that pollute our air and water. We are working with local electric providers to install alternative energy production systems like solar and hydroelectric to power our high energy use facilities throughout the City. As the technologies become more available, the City of Columbia looks to be a leader in alternative energy use.
Solar power is an amazing technology that is growing more affordable and efficient year-by-year. With advances in battery storage, sustainable energy production will become more of a household and business standard. Hopefully the PSC will continue to support our small businesses and residents of Columbia, the Midlands and the state, and reject any attempts to hinder its growth. Our citizens, our economy and our environment were at stake in this decision, and our PSC ruled for the people.
This story was originally published June 3, 2021 at 1:24 PM.