♪ >> Welcome to a "This Week in South Carolina" special report.

I'm Gavin Jackson.

South Carolina is the fastest growing state in the country.

And because of that, the state needs more energy for the additional 1 million folks set to live here by 2040, as well as the needs of advanced manufacturers, businesses and data centers.

This is our second episode of looking at the growing demand for electricity in our state.

This episode takes a specific look at the possibility of restarting construction on two nuclear reactors at V.C.

Summer Nuclear Station and potentially two other reactors that could be built by Duke Energy.

We also look at the growing demand, fueled by data centers that make up the backbone of our digital, interconnected world, and artificial intelligence, and what regulations lawmakers in Columbia are debating.

We spoke with the heads of the three major utilities in the state Keller Kissam at Dominion Energy, Tim Pearson at Duke Energy, and Jimmy Staton at the state owned Santee Cooper, whom I spoke with at the V.C.

Summer Nuclear Station's control room simulator at the plant in Jenkinsville.

We talked about the biggest nuclear news in the state, and that is Santee Cooper entering into a memorandum of understanding with Brookfield Asset Management in December 2025 to possibly, eventually take over ownership of the two partially constructed reactors that have been preserved since work stopped in 2017 on the failed $9 billion dollar project.

Jimmy Staton> And you know, my characterization of what has happened and where we are, is we started... we initiated the construction of a, of a plant on actually two nuclear reactors at about the same time that Southern Company did in Georgia.

We got to a point where I think as a state, as two companies, we reached a point where we just realized it's going to cost... It's too costly.

It's time to stop.

And so we, we stopped.

And there obviously were a lot of issues as to why did that happen.

I wasn't here.

I don't want... Gavin> We're not... Jimmy> I'm not going to necessarily address those, but, but, but we maintained it.

The state gave us the capability to do it.

Our board gave us the money to continue to maintain these assets.

That was absolutely critical for us because we knew there would come another day where nuclear was a, was an opportunity again.

And that's what we saw.

We noticed around the country that there were a nuclear, old nuclear facilities being restarted in order to help feed some of this, A.I.

renaissance that we're, we're seeing here in the United States.

And so we identified that and thought, you know what, we've got probably the most unique site in the country.

We have a new technology, partially completed nuclear facility.

In fact, two of them, that we think make us, makes us the best site in America to restart nuclear development in the United States.

So we went out with a request for proposal.

We had an incredibly robust, but, interest in doing that, but we found a great partner.

That partner is Brookfield Asset Management.

We have worked an arrangement with them, so that, and this is a unique arrangement.

They are going to come in, partner with us, but they will take on the risk of building V.C.

Summer two and three.

And I say that's unique, it's unique from this perspective.

Every other nuclear plant in the country has been built at, where the risk is placed on the ratepayers.

This is the first one where the risk is going to be borne by a financial enterprise that understands how to manage that risk and to bring customers, to the table.

So we are, we, we reached an arrangement, that arrangement is multiple things.

Number one, when we reach final investment decision, that's when we've got the go ahead that, hey, we're going to construct this.

Santee Cooper will, will receive $2.7 billion in cash that will enable us to pay off the lion's share of the debt that we have on our books associated with this facility, with the, the, the when we stopped construction.

On top of that, we will get, we will receive about 25% percent of the output.

We'll...still be a, a partner in this arrangement.

In large part, that's because we contributed these assets.

And so we're retaining an ownership in that.

So we'll receive about 25% percent, about 550 megawatts of the capacity that, that comes from, from the plant.

So, you know, we're excited about that.

We're growing as a, as a state.

So we need that.

We need that energy as well as everything else that we, that we're doing.

So that's, that's the, the, the arrangement that we have with Brookfield.

We're finding them to be great partners.

And we're in process.

The process we're in right now is we're at the due diligence phase where they are, they have folks out here, on site going over everything that's out here.

What's, what equipment is, is out there, what's it look like, what's it going to take for us to get to the next steps?

So, you know, how much is it going to cost and how long is it going to take to, to finish this project?

Once we get past that, and I think that's probably going to take us 18 to 24 months, that's when we reach that final investment decision.

So that's when Santee Cooper would receive the $2.7 billion dollars.

And that's when we think construction would, would start.

So what I've been telling most folks is stay tuned.

There's a lot of work to do, but we're very optimistic in what's out here and the opportunity that it's going to bring.

Gavin> And it sounds like a pretty good deal too, in terms of that, you won't be paying for any of the construction costs?

Jimmy> Santee Cooper has paid our, our share.

And so by contributing the assets, we will not have to contribute anything else.

That's in large part, I look at it as, you know, our job was to protect our customers.

They're paying for those debt costs right now.

And so we don't want them to pay more to have this plant completed.

And so I feel like we've protected them while at the same time continuing to participate.

So they will receive some value, meaning 550 megawatts from the investment that we've, that we've made.

Gavin> And then that $2.7 billion dollars, you said, would pay off most of the debt associated with that.

Is that what you would do with that money, or would you still continue to pay it on a schedule and save that money for other things?

Jimmy> As, as I, as a public power enterprise, we have certain requirements.

We are able to, to borrow money at, that is non-taxable.

And so part of the requirement, if you, if you've got non-taxable dollars is when, if you sell those assets to someone else, you need to, you need to defray those costs.

And so you have to take those dollars and pay off debt.

So that's what we would do.

But again that will result in lower cost to our customers.

Gavin> Duke Energy has the largest nuclear fleet in the country, operating 11 reactors in the Carolinas and six in South Carolina alone, including at H.B.

Robinson in Hartsville, where we spoke with Tim Pearson, president of Duke Energy South Carolina.

And since our last report, state regulators have approved Duke's 1400 megawatt Anderson gas plant.

However, back in 2007, Duke submitted an application for two licenses to build and operate two AP1000 units for a planned W.S.

Lee Nuclear generating station in Cherokee County.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted those licenses nine years later in 2016, but within months of that, following the bankruptcy of Westinghouse and the scandal that rocked Santee Cooper and then S.C.E.N.G.

over V.C.

Summer, Duke held off on moving forward with the reactors.

Now, the W.S.

Lee plant could come back into focus.

>> You know, there's a lot of chatter in the, in the nuclear space about, the lease site, up in Cherokee County, and we have a license, right now, with, with the federal government, to, to build large light water reactors.

<Yeah> So that's what we're looking at right here.

Not specific to this technology, but, talking about the AP1000s, which, you know, is what, South Carolinians are familiar with, with V.C.

Summer, but I think importantly, is what, Georgia Power was able to bring online over there with the Vogtle plant.

So we, you know, we do have a, an example here in the United States where those are, have been successfully built, and are successfully, you know, producing energy for their customers and, you know, Westinghouse, who owns that technology, has said that the lease side is the, would be the fastest site in the country to, to get an AP1000 up and running.

But there's a lot of things that go into that decision for us, you know, the regulatory considerations, you know, the federal government, obviously, with the Trump administration has expressed a great deal of interest in new nuclear in the country.

But we also have to make sure it's the right thing to do for our customers.

You know, we, we saw with V.C.

Summer, we...saw with Vogtle, they're not cheap.

Now they have great benefit because, again, you know, 80 - 100 years potentially, you know, that's, that's a lot.

But you know, we know that our customers are feeling cost pressures, you know, in really every aspect of their life right now, and so we just have to go through a process which we are undergoing right now and, and see, you know, is this the right thing, for us to do?

And I think we'll get to that decision soon.

And, we'll certainly be public about it.

Gavin> And when would we know, either way, what's the future look like?

Tim> Yeah, I don't... Gavin> Show your hand a little bit.

Tim> I will say this, you know, some of your viewers may not know, but we, we and, and our fellow utilities go through what's called an integrated resource plan.

So every couple of years, we go in front.. of the commission and we tell them what we see, as the demand increases, to what we're going to have to serve over the next 15 years, and then we present to them what we believe is the appropriate resource mix to go ahead and fill that.

So gas and solar and, you know, wind, if that makes sense, you know, and your...pumped storage like we have up at that creek and, and nuclear and in our most recently approved I.R.P., nuclear was part of it, you know, we were talking about, it's about 3000 megawatts.

Now, it's not resource specific.

So there's talk about small modular reactors, large reactors.

So, you know, the, the state at the Commission has agreed with us that nuclear is part of our energy future.

I think we're having a conversation now about what does that look like?

And, you know, how do we get there?

What's the timetable?

Does the supply chain exist?

Does the workforce exist?

What's the financing look like, you know.

And what I mean by that is how can we protect our customers to make sure that, you know, we don't end up in a situation where they're paying, more than they expected, more than they should for these resources.

So that's the process we're going through now.

I don't have the definitive end date to it, but, it's not something we're interested in dragging out.

Gavin> Dominion Energy South Carolina CEO, Keller Kissam said the utility doesn't have any South Carolina nuclear projects on the horizon, as it continues to build out gas capacity in the state.

We spoke with him at the Columbia Energy Center in Gaston in early February about nuclear and data center demands.

Keller Kissam> The big thing with nuclear is, of course, the intense capital cost, which is why we abandoned units two and three, because the cost just became prohibitive on that, and if you started spreading those costs across those 820,000 customers of ours in Santee Cooper, I think nuclear is a great option.

Why?

Because it is, it's non-carbon emitting.

However, there's still the storage.

I mean, every 18 months we go in for a refueling outage up there and those fuel rods come out, like we have a, a pool up there, we store them in which is really cool.

You need to go up there and see that.

Or we put in- Gavin> If they let me.

Keller> Yeah.

We'll get you in there.

You just can't lean over.

But they have, they have a dry cast system out there that they're stored, as well.

And they, they should have had a national solution at Yucca Mountain, but that fell through with Senator Harry Reid and the folks in Nevada.

So that long term storage and a half life is something that's got to be addressed.

A lot of people talk about, you know, the small modular reactors and getting those online very expensive right now for what the output is.

Very expensive.

And where are you going to locate them and things of that nature?

So I think we'll have a breakthrough on that.

I'm hoping for that.

I hope Brookfield and Santee Cooper are successful restarting units two and three.

I think that'd be great for the state of South Carolina.

I just prefer not to relive that again from our standpoint.

And so, we're not involved with it at this time.

We don't have any expectation, our ratepayers being involved with that at all.

But there may come a time when if they are successful, we have very skilled senior reactor operators on site operating unit one that could certainly help out down the road with that.

So I think we'll play a role.

I just don't know what that role will be.

But we're not going to jump in at the get go.

Gavin> So y'all won't be operating those units then?

Keller> We could.

Yes, sir.

>> Yeah.

It just depends.

Keller> We could.

We could enter an operating relationship if somebody wants to talk to us about it, because those operators, I mean, they're operating V.C.

Summer right now and, and have been doing so since the early 80s.

Gavin> Well then, kind of wrapping up.

I mean, when you look at these big energy, energy hungry companies, look at Meta, you look at Google, they're all buying their own nuclear plants in a sense of, they're restarting Three Mile Island or and there's even discussion about what could possibly happen with those two reactors, should they eventually come online.

Do you think that is a solution here, or do you think that could also offset some or present some future problems that we haven't thought about in terms of these select companies also now having energy generating capacity, too.

Keller> Yeah, you know, the data centers, it's... I think the solution for data centers is very similar to what we're doing at Canadys.

At Canadys, we're going to an existing site.

It already has a substation.

It already has transmission from both Santee Cooper and Dominion Energy South Carolina.

So, it's a good site.

Data centers, I think they need to kind of steer away from going out there to virgin land and building on it.

And let's look at some industrial areas that we have.

These companies are coming in.

What a great place to go, because every one of those facilities that is standing there, what does it have: transmission, substation, gas, water.

And so I just wish we'd take a look at reinventing what is already there, has served us in the past and can serve us again.

I think that's the key to it.

Otherwise, I think we're going to struggle with people saying, you know, not in my backyard.

Certainly not in the ACE basin.

And I think there's a right place to put them.

It's real estate.

It's location.

Gavin> And I know, you're not in the data center business, but it sounds like you're in favor of some of these regulations that are just now being discussed, at the state legislature.

Keller> I'm in favor of anything that is new, that different parties take a look at and come to consensus.

I'm very proud that Senator Tom Davis is willing to take some of these issues on.

And, you know, we just finished with the energy legislation.

Now, I see this as an extension of it.

And I think if they take the same collaborative approach, that they can broker similarly situated solutions to the benefit of South Carolina long term.

Anything you have out there has got to be properly managed.

So I'm proud of Senator Davis and what he's brought forward up to this particular point.

Gavin> In 2025, Santee Cooper's board approved higher rates for industrial customers using 50 megawatts of power or more, which would include some major manufacturers as well as certain data centers that are the target of increased scrutiny by the public.

The state owned utility will also require a 15 year agreement, with penalties associated with any agreement termination.

The utility can also charge higher rates during peak demand times.

The experimental rate is in place during a trial period into 2029.

>> And I would say they're driving some of the near-term requirements that we have.

South Carolina is going to have a million more people here by 2040.

That's driving a lot of load, as well.

And so as we think about, how do we, how do we plan to, to meet that, I think something like what the Santee Cooper board did, makes a lot of sense, at least it makes a lot of sense for us.

Those those folks that are causing us to, build new transmission or generation, pay that incremental cost.

So, if we built transmission to serve a data center, they, they write us a check and they pay for those assets, under our new rate structure.

If we have to incur a higher than normal cost for generation, they pay that incremental cost, as well.

And so that, that in our, in the board's perspective, that was a way of protecting our residential and commercial customers, while still meeting the growth needs of the state, because I think that infrastructure is very important, as well.

>> There are reportedly 30 data centers across South Carolina of various capacities in downtown areas and rural industrial parks alike.

Not much is required to be known about them, including their water usage.

Multiple groups and residents in Spartanburg and Colleton counties have recently pushed back against these data centers, while other areas like Aiken, Berkeley, Dorchester, York and Marion counties have embraced them, and the massive tax revenue windfall they bring in.

On a recent call about data centers, the Sierra Club illustrating incredible nationwide energy demand.

Dori Jaffe> 451 research, and S and P Global are attempting to start tracking those major developments.

They estimate that we may be on track to hit more than 110 gigawatts of data centers by 2029, which is more than double today's operational data center capacity, which is itself twice as much as we had four years ago.

And as you can see, the largest concentration, by far, is in Virginia, at about 28 gigawatts projected by 2029.

Gavin> Hearings started back in February over L.C.I.

Committee Chairman, Senator Tom Davis' Comprehensive Data Center Regulatory Framework Bill as 867.

As of April 2nd, an updated version, based on hours of testimony is nearly complete.

In part, it requires companies, not ratepayers, to pay all costs associated with energy generation and upgrades.

There would be mandatory light shielding, vibration reduction and sound limit requirements, and required buffer areas.

Such legislation would be in addition to local land use requirements.

Sen.

Tom Davis> I find myself kind of, in the middle of two camps.

I mean, there are some, quite frankly, that would love to have no further data centers in South Carolina.

They associate data center with excessive power consumption.

They associate it with, potential growth when they don't want more growth in South Carolina.

I'm of the mind that, that would be shortsighted in that, the next generation of industries are going to be increasingly relying upon A.I.

technologies.

To some degree, latency is an issue there in proximity of data centers to those businesses, matter, in some context.

I think it would be shortsighted for us to adopt a band data centers approach.

I think that would be, a very kind of a Luddite way of thinking.

But on the other hand, I'm not sort of like, laissez-faire Buccaneer either, where, where they can just come and locate wherever they want to locate, and we'll leave it to local governments to decide where they're going to be sited, and we'll leave it to them to decide, you know, in regard to, you know, water consumption or proximity to infrastructure or noise and vibrations.

I mean, so I do think there are externalities associated with data centers that are unique to data centers.

And I think that it is responsible for us to acknowledge those and to try to remediate those externalities.

So I try to steer this middle ground in between providing for the protections that I'm hearing from my constituents.

They're worried about their power bills.

They're worried about the effects on the environment.

They're worried about excessive water consumption.

And so I've attempted to address that, but in a way, that doesn't chill capital formation, in a way that doesn't cause, data centers to look at South Carolina and say, this is a completely unreceptive environment for us to invest, and we're not going invest there.

I don't think that's a desirable outcome either.

Sen.

J.D.

Chaplin> Data centers that are currently in the state, not a single one of them, reports back to you how much water they're using?

They all buy it from local municipalities selling water?

And they're able to just hide that information?

>> They are purchasing it, or at least plan to purchase it from existing water suppliers.

Yes, sir.

So they're not putting in new intakes or wells, at this point.

Sen.

J.D.

Chaplin> So, so we don't have any sort of idea on how much water they are currently using as that industry sits by itself?

We don't have it, do we have any idea how much water, something like Nucor uses?

Or do they buy all theirs from the public water source, too in order to keep quiet?

Or the Nestle plant in Florence.

They sell water for a living.

We have to have some sort of idea.

Rob Devlin> Yeah.

So, so, Senator they, if we have a place at which they are pulling water out of whether it be a well or an intake, we are, our laws were set up and our regulations were set up to require them to tell us how much water is coming out of the resource, so out of the lake, out of the river, or out of the aquifer.

On the groundwater side, we have the ability to look at what we call reasonable use.

How many acres of land are you irrigating?

How much golf course land are you irrigating?

Or...what is your population that you're serving?

But past that, we don't really look at anything on the groundwater side as reasonable use.

On the surface water side, 97% percent of those permits were existing users.

They were grandfathered in and they got the highest of their capacity, of their intake.

And that was a grandfathered permit, which is not up for renewal.

Or I mean, they got 30, 30 to 50 year permits Sen.

Chaplin> Just so I can get this correct, the easy answer to my question is, No, we don't know.

We don't know how much water they're using.

And, unless something changes, we're not going to be able to know how much they use.

Rob Devlin> At this particular time, the way we, the way we operate our water reporting requirements, No, sir, they do not.

>> There's a lot of different companies that have I.T.

or they have data centers that they rely on.

So again, I'm just trying to understand if we're recruiting companies to the state of South Carolina like a, like a Scout.

I would imagine that they have some type of data center within Scout that they're using to run the operations of their company.

Harry Lightsey> Yes, sir.

Sen.

Ott> And you're saying that we're not doing it because you're saying that that doesn't meet the threshold of what we're calling a data center?

>> Yeah.

I think, Senator, just to make sure I'm being clear, so, we do recruit manufacturing companies and, biotech companies and many other companies.

We, we try to, tell them the advantages of doing business in South Carolina.

We go to trade shows.

We do things like that.

But in terms of, going out and, proactively recruiting data centers or hyperscalers to locate facilities in the state of South Carolina that are purely there for data processing needs, you know, we do not recruit those.

Gavin> Chris Gatch, executive vice president of DC BLOX, a tech company that owns and operates data centers across the southeast, including three in South Carolina, was one of several people who testified on S 867.

Chris Gatch> Google's first data center in Moncks Corner was the first major data center investment in the state, and it triggered layers of additional investment.

Because of that initial investment, the region required a subsea cable landing station to connect global internet traffic.

DC BLOX developed that $85 million dollar facility in Myrtle Beach... which now connects South Carolina directly to Europe, South America, and soon Africa and Asia.

It is the largest cable landing station on the East Coast, and to support that facility, we built a $100 million dollar high capacity fiber route from Myrtle Beach to Charleston to Atlanta with approximately 45 million invested in South Carolina, including rural communities.

And that investment enabled four regional broadband providers to expand service to roughly 238,000 subscribers across 19 counties.

And then Meta, located a multi-billion dollar or sited a multi-billion dollar data center in Aiken County.

Not coincidentally, right along that fiber corridor.

In response, DC BLOX is now building a $75 million dollar network focused data center in North Augusta, right on Atomic Avenue and Segra is building new fiber from Augusta to Greenville.

And Windstream has upgraded major fiber routes connecting Myrtle Beach to Jacksonville and to Virginia, and nine telecommunication carriers have established connectivity at the cable landing station.

And as this momentum continues, Google announced a multi-billion dollar expansion in the Lowcountry, adding new campuses in Dorchester County.

And this cascade of investment began with one data center commitment, and it continues.

Companies located in South Carolina, including Vertiv, Excool Johnson Controls, Fluor, Metromont and many others have benefited from this growth.

Construction trades, engineering firms and manufacturing base have all strengthened, and these benefits have also extended to the largest state's largest health care system and largest automobile manufacturer, as well, who kept I.T.

infrastructure in the state, instead of relocating at a higher cost and complexity to other locations.

Gavin> With just weeks left in the legislative session this year, the bill's future is unknown.

For South Carolina ETV, I'm Gavin Jackson.

Be well, South Carolina.

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