South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. will add two combined-cycle natural gas plants and more than 200 MW of new solar capacity over the next 15 years as it plans for a future without two new V.C. Summer nuclear units.
For the first time in nearly a decade, the SCANA Corp. subsidiary submitted an integrated resource plan, or IRP, to the Public Service Commission of South Carolina that does not include the capacity from the now-abandoned nuclear reactors in Fairfield County. SCE&G and project partner Santee Cooper, known legally as South Carolina Public Service Authority, decided July 31, 2017, to halt construction of the two 1,117-MW reactors after determining the project would cost more than double its original price tag and not meet the deadline for federal production tax credits.
SCE&G's 2018 IRP includes the addition of the combined-cycle Columbia Energy Center by Jan. 1, 2019, which is expected to replace 40% of the power that would have come from V.C. Summer. SCE&G in November 2017 unveiled its plan to purchase the 540-MW natural gas-fired plant in Calhoun County, S.C., for $180 million from LS Power Development LLC. Dominion Energy Inc.'s offer to acquire SCANA does not hinder this investment.
The resource plan also includes a second, 540-MW combined-cycle gas plant added in 2023 to offset a 200-MW shortfall in capacity.
In addition, SCE&G plans to add about 244 MW of solar capacity to its system by 2021. The utility also anticipates 16 MW of community solar will be interconnected in late 2018 and early 2019.
SCE&G said it will file an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by June requesting a new 50-year license for its 15-MW Parr Hydro facility in Fairfield County. The utility also plans to seek relicensing for its 576-MW Fairfield pumped-storage plant and 198.5-MW Saluda (Lake Murray) Hydro Plant.
SCE&G said an 85-MW reduction of capacity by 2019 reflects the loss of its Cogen South (Kapstone) coal and biomass plant with a 25-MW reduction in 2020 tied to the expiration of a power purchase agreement with Santee Cooper. The IRP also identifies the potential need for 93 MW of peaking/intermediate capacity in 2031.
Despite the loss of the planned V.C. Summer capacity and efforts to support the development of coal-fired power plants, SCE&G said it "currently has no plans to add new coal-fired generation." (SC PSC docket 2018-9-E)
