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Santee Cooper鈥檚 goal is to decrease carbon emissions by 50% from 2005 levels in the next decade and a half.

To do so, the state-owned utility will need to change how it produces its energy.

According to Santee Cooper documents, 52% of its total energy generation came from coal in 2022.

鈥淚鈥檓 an absolute fan of renewable resources, but I鈥檓 also a utility head and my job is to ensure that I can deliver the needs of the people of South Carolina at any given moment,鈥� Santee Cooper CEO Jimmy Staton said. 鈥淚f that moment happens to be at 6 o鈥檆lock in the morning 鈥� which it normally is for us between 6 and 8 o鈥檆lock in the morning 鈥� on a cold winter day, I鈥檝e got to have the resources to be able to serve that load. And at that point in time, solar isn鈥檛 available.鈥�

Some utility companies have set goals to reach carbon neutrality by certain dates. Duke Energy has announced a goal to reach net zero by 2050. Dominion Energy has done the same. Santee Cooper has not done so yet.

鈥淪antee Cooper, we鈥檝e been a little reluctant to commit to an absolute date, and the reason for that is there鈥檚 no magic bullet,鈥� Staton said. 鈥淲e need technology to continue to advance.鈥�

The utility has set a more lenient goal, though 鈥� to reduce emissions by 50% from 2005 levels by 2040. Emissions peaked in 2005 with 23 million tons of CO2.

Conor Harrison, an associate professor of geography at the University of South Carolina researching how power companies are shifting toward fossil fuels, is almost done writing a book on the topic. Harrison said that Santee Cooper鈥檚 energy portfolio is more coal-concentrated than the national average.

鈥淲hen I look at this mix compared to national averages, that鈥檚 almost twice as much coal,鈥� Harrison said. 鈥淚 would look at it and say it鈥檚 coal heavy and renewable light.鈥�

Nationally, renewable energy usage has surpassed coal by 3% according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Coal fired power plants are the biggest offender when it comes to emissions. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2.3 pounds of CO2 are emitted per kilowatt-hour of energy produced in the U.S. The only source with a higher emission per kWh is oil, which emits 2.4 pounds per kWh but is much less commonly used by power companies.

鈥淐oal and natural gas both have a lot of carbon emissions associated with them both from CO2 and things like methane,鈥� Harrison said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 also the problem of particulate emissions from coal plants that get in your lungs and are bad for you.鈥�

CO2 is a greenhouse gas, meaning when it is released into the atmosphere, it traps heat that would normally be released back into space. Since the widespread adoption of the burning of fossil fuels, the Earth鈥檚 average temperature has increased about 2 degrees. that nearly all independently confirmed climate experts that were surveyed (99%) agree that humans are the driving force behind the warming climate.

In 2022, Santee Cooper emitted about 15.2 million metric tons of CO2 鈥� 96,000 less than in 2021.

Staton said that Santee Cooper wants to decrease emissions and the utility has begun to move in that direction. The utility has seen a downward trend in emissions since 2005.

Those numbers are likely to continue decreasing especially with the upcoming closure of the Winyah Bay Generating Station in Georgetown. Originally, the first units were scheduled to shut down in 2023, then 2029. Staton said the Winyah location will now likely close in 2030, 2031 or later.

鈥淭he original intent for us was to close Winyah in 2029. The growth in the state, however, has made us rethink that,鈥� Staton said. 鈥淎nd so our plan now would be probably to close it more in the 2031 timeframe, but we made it very clear if growth continues to accelerate, we may have to delay that unless we can get other resources to replace it.鈥�

The utility produced about 19,000 gigawatt-hours of energy in 2022, providing energy to about 205,000 retail customers. Santee Cooper disburses more energy than it produces, with about 30% of its total energy portfolio coming from purchases. Santee Cooper CEO Jimmy Staton said the source of that purchased energy varies, but that it鈥檚 often sourced from coal or natural gas.

Filling the gap

When Winyah closes, Santee Cooper will need to have added other power sources to fill the gap for a growing customer base.

Staton said the utility would like to 鈥渃lose coal鈥� and that 鈥淚f I had my druthers,鈥� Santee Cooper would enact a 33% nuclear, 33% renewables and 33% natural gas energy portfolio.

Santee Cooper published in its 2023 integrated resource plan its 鈥減referred portfolio鈥� objectives, which includes retiring Winyah, installing more ways of generating solar energy (1,200 MW of solar from 2026 through 2029, 1,850 MW of solar from 2030-2040, installing 400 MW of battery storage from 2029-2040 and adding a 1,360 MW natural gas plant in 2031).

Staton said that Santee Cooper is aiming to create a 鈥済lide path鈥� toward carbon neutrality using natural gas as a bridge and to ensure that the utility can supply power reliably. He said that 鈥渟olar alone won鈥檛 do it.鈥�

New natural gas plants would be done in the hopes that they could be converted to hydrogen fuel if and when technological advancements allow, Staton said.

Burning hydrogen fuel is an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels as doing so does not emit greenhouse gasses.

Harrison said the possibility of hydrogen fuel being used on a large scale is on the horizon but technologically is not entirely there yet.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 the next big thing according to a lot of entities out there,鈥� Harrison said. 鈥淵ou can [potentially] create hydrogen fuel that can then mimic other liquid or solid fuels and it can kind of be moved around and be used when you want it to as opposed to wind or solar which can only be used when [wind or sun] happens.鈥�

The transition to green energy is moving too slowly in the energy sector, Harrison says, and he鈥檚 worried about the possibility of new fossil fuel infrastructure being installed in place of an old fossil fuel power plant.

鈥淭he expectation when utilities build power plants is that they鈥檙e going to be around for a long time,鈥� Harrison said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I start to get a little uncomfortable when utilities talk about building new gas plants as a bridge to get us to a point with more renewables because it鈥檚 not just building a new gas plant for another five or 10 years. Their expectation is that they鈥檙e going to be building a new gas plant that鈥檚 going to last for 40 to 50 years.

鈥淭hese decisions that are being made now about what sort of generation we should be adding to the grid aren鈥檛 going to impact us just for a few years. They鈥檒l impact us for a long time.鈥�

Power plants also take many years to be built. According to Santee Cooper鈥檚 2008 annual report, the Cross Generating Station took 25 years to complete.

There鈥檚 also the case of the VC Summer nuclear plant expansion which fell through completely after Santee Cooper, a minority owner of the facility with Dominion Energy, borrowed billions to pay for the construction of VC Summer Units 2 and 3.

鈥淵ou can鈥檛 talk about nuclear in South Carolina without talking about the VC Summer plant. That鈥檚 sort of cast a shadow over every conversation,鈥� Harrison said. 鈥淭he big plants are pretty much out of the picture just based on our seemingly inability to do them.鈥�

Staton said in order to transition to an energy portfolio with renewables like solar, technology needs to progress.

鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to pair it with battery storage. That鈥檚 incredibly expensive right now. You may see prices come down, but there are some technical issues that are still concerning. It鈥檚 lithium ion batteries. There鈥檚 a reason you can鈥檛 put lithium ion batteries in the storage compartment of airplanes because they might catch fire,鈥� Staton said. 鈥淭he same thing holds true to batteries right now 鈥� they may catch fire and you can鈥檛 put them out. They just have to burn. I think that technology will develop, but that technology is not there yet. So it鈥檚 not as easy as just saying build as much solar as you possibly can. Without a flexible resource like a natural gas plant, I can only accommodate so much solar.鈥�

Good news for solar power is that the price is now cheaper than coal, Harrison said. That number comes from something called the levelized cost of energy which takes many factors including installation cost, fuel and maintenance into account to determine which energy source gives you the most bang for your buck.

Nuclear energy makes up 11% of Santee Cooper鈥檚 energy portfolio right now and is the third slice of Staton鈥檚 preferred future energy portfolio pie.

But Staton said that the utility is not planning on constructing any additional nuclear plants unless small modular reactors, a technology still under development, progresses further.

S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster said small modular reactors are an exciting possibility for the future of energy in South Carolina.

鈥淚 think everyone would like to see that we鈥檙e as clean as possible. Nuclear energy is right at the top of that list because it鈥檚 100% clean, it works 24 hours a day, it produces much, much power, so we are happy to see the advent of small modular reactors seems to be moving forward well because that鈥檚 a big part,鈥� McMaster told MyHorry糖心vlog官方入口. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if we鈥檒l be building around the nation into these huge reactors, or not as many as we have before.鈥�

The big question in regard to small modular reactors, Harrison said, is who is going to take the initial financial risk of installing a new technology.

鈥淚 think what鈥檚 tricky is knowing which [prototype] is going to be the winning design,鈥� Harrison said. 鈥淚 attend a lot of industry conferences and events just to see what they鈥檙e talking about and the sort of sense that I鈥檝e gotten around small modular reactors is that there鈥檚 a lot of utilities that wouldn鈥檛 mind being the fifth or sixth order to a manufacturer of those, but nobody wants to be the first.鈥�

Staton said small modular reactors are a very important and needed advancement for Santee Cooper to reach net zero emissions.

鈥淚f SMR becomes a technology that is easily adaptable, I could see [net zero] happening by the 2050-ish timeframe, but I鈥檓 not ready yet and our board hasn鈥檛 determined that we have a hard date in mind,鈥� Staton said. 鈥淏ut what our plan is, let's reduce emissions steadily, keep it affordable and reliable and let鈥檚 let technology continue to develop.鈥�

Harrison said he is hopeful that technology will progress to allow power companies to provide energy with very low or no emissions, but that it needs to happen quicker.

鈥淚 think if you鈥檙e concerned about climate change, which I am, it鈥檚 happening too slowly,鈥� Harrison said. 鈥淭o try to transition the system to limit our carbon emissions to try and keep the increase in temperatures lower than what it鈥檚 projected to be is crucially important especially with coastal communities.鈥�