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A look at Santee Cooper's 2 coal plants

South Carolina utility Santee Cooper outlined a plan in September to reduce its coal-fired generating capacity, now about 60% of its overall portfolio, by shutting one of its two large coal plants in stages and perhaps shutting the second plant while adding natural gas and sustainable resources.

"Overall, Santee Cooper is targeting a portfolio of resources with more innovative technology, significantly greater operating efficiency, diversity, and enhanced environmental performance with a lower carbon footprint," the utility said in its 2019 Business Forecast approved Sept. 9 by its board of directors.

Santee Cooper, owned by the state of South Carolina and known legally as the South Carolina Public Service Authority, said it will retire the four-unit 1,150-MW Winyah in Georgetown County, S.C., in two stages and may consider shuttering some or all of the four-unit 2,375-MW Cross plant in Berkeley County, S.C.

The new strategy, which includes the addition of solar, battery storage and gas-fired resources, calls for retiring units 3 and 4 at Winyah in 2023 and units 1 and 2 in 2027. Speaking about the decision to shut down the plant, Santee Cooper spokesperson Mollie Gore told South Carolina newspaper The State that Winyah is "older and less efficient than the one at Cross."

Winyah units 1 and 2 entered service in the mid-1970s, and units 3 and 4 went online in the early 1980s. S&P Global Market Intelligence data shows that combined net generation for the entire plant was 1,582,808 MWh in 2018, with capacity factor at 15.71%. Total carbon dioxide, or CO2, emissions were more than 1.9 million tons.

Operation and maintenance, or O&M, expenses for Winyah modeled by S&P Global Market Intelligence's Generation Supply Curve span the $60s/MWh for Winyah units 1 and 2 in 2018 and 2019 and the low $80s/MWh for units 3 and 4 over the same period.

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The business strategy also provides for the potential retirement of the Cross facility, but such a decision would not be considered until the 2030s. "Should the federal government impose a modest to significant carbon tax on utilities' emissions of CO2, Santee Cooper would be able to significantly mitigate the impact of that tax on its customers by retiring Cross Generating Station," the utility said in its business forecast. The utility may opt to shutter Cross units 1 and 2 in the event of lower customer demand and could retire all four units if a carbon tax is imposed.

Conversely, Santee Cooper might rely on some of the Cross units if additional resources are needed in the late 2030s to meet customer demand.

The 585-MW Cross unit 2 is the oldest of the four, having begun operations in 1984. It is also mothballed. Cross unit 1 began operating in 1995, and the remaining two units began operating in the latter part of the 2000s. The plant-level capacity factor in 2018 was more than twice that of Winyah, at 45.88%, with net generation at 9,544,596 MWh. CO2 emissions totaled 10.7 million tons.

Excluding the mothballed unit 2, modeled O&M costs for the Cross units run between the high $30s/MWh and low $40s/MWh over the 2018-2019 period.

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First-half 2019 fuel deliveries data from S&P Global Market Intelligence show delivery of 2.7 million tons of coal to Santee Cooper, of which 92.4%, or 2.5 million tons, went to Cross.

Almost 2.0 million tons, or 78.0%, delivered to Cross were from three mines. Consol Energy Inc.'s Harvey Mine in Greene County, Pa., supplied 787,000 tons, while Foresight Energy LP and Murray Energy Corp.'s MC No. 1 Mine in Franklin County, Ill., supplied another 709,000 tons. Alliance Resource Partners LP's Mine No. 1 in Hamilton County, Ill., supplied 457,000 tons.

Winyah received 206,000 tons of coal deliveries during the period. The Kentucky River Loading mine in Perry County, Ky., owned by JMP Coal Holdings LLC, JMP Holdings LLC, RWE AG and T A Potter Enterprises LLC, was among the top suppliers to the plant, along with the MC No. 1 Mine and Alliance Resource Partners' Mine No. 1. The three mines provided almost 155,000 tons, or 75.0% of the total.

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