Duke Energy Says New Generation Needed to Meet South Carolina’s Booming Demand

GREENVILLE, S.C. — An unprecedented surge in new residents and the dramatic growth of South Carolina’s manufacturing sector are creating an urgent need for new energy generation resources, the region’s largest utility has told state regulators.

“We’re already projecting eight times the load growth we anticipated just two years ago,” said Mike Callahan, president of Duke Energy South Carolina, in a written statement.

“This additional demand for energy is historic in both size and speed,” he said. “To meet customer needs, we’re proposing more of nearly every resource available to us as we maintain our diverse, ‘all of the above’ approach to maintain reliability and affordability.”

Callahan offered his assessment during a recent update provided to the Public Service Commission of South Carolina. 

It built on a report, Duke Energy’s “Carolinas Resource Plan,” released last August, in which the utility proposed a roadmap for providing cleaner energy to meet that demand without compromising grid reliability, the affordability of energy or sacrificing future economic growth.

In addition to what was laid out in the previous report, the update included a proposal for a new combined cycle gas plant to be built in South Carolina, and the development of potential wind energy generation off the coast of North Carolina, subject to regulatory approvals.

The plan continues to balance traditional forms of dispatchable, on-demand resources like advanced nuclear, natural gas and pumped hydro storage with a growing amount of complementary renewables that can deliver fuel-free energy, along with aggressive energy efficiency and demand side management programs to target peak energy use reduction of nearly 2.8 GW by 2038.

“We must have a diverse energy mix to account for the coldest winter nights and the warmest summer days,” Callahan said. “We must make sure the power is there when customers need it and it is as affordable as possible — providing certainty as they go about their daily lives. We need power — a lot of it — and we need to take action today.”

Regulators approved Duke Energy’s updated proposal on Jan. 25, and additional hearings on it have been tentatively scheduled for March and November.

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