Santee Cooper Board Approves Purchase of Generating Station
Natural Gas Unit Helps Meet Near-Term Needs of Growing State
MONCKS CORNER, S.C. – The Santee Cooper Board of Directors today approved the purchase of Cherokee County Cogeneration Partners LLC, a natural gas combined cycle power plant in Gaffney, S.C. The planned $17 million purchase also requires approval by the S.C. Public Service Commission (PSC) and the legislative Joint Bond Review Committee.
The Cherokee plant will help Santee Cooper reliably meet increased customer demand caused by new and expanded industries in the state and a fast-growing residential and commercial base in areas served by Santee Cooper, its municipal wholesale customers and the state’s electric cooperatives.
“We need a quick power supply for new industry and new people, and that’s a great problem to have,” said President and CEO Jimmy Staton. “Cherokee offers an existing, in-state solution that matches well with our generating portfolio and will help provide the reliable, affordable power our customers have come to expect.”
Cherokee was built in 1998 and sold to LS Power in 2011. Santee Cooper began taking the Cherokee output under a purchased power agreement in early 2022. Owning the actual unit will provide additional reliability to Santee Cooper’s customers. The purchase has been endorsed by Santee Cooper’s largest customer, Central Electric Power Cooperative, which intends to seek formal support from its board in May.
“Our economic development folks have been wonderfully successful in attracting business and industry to the areas we serve, and that means we will need more power,” said Rob Hochstetler, President and CEO of Central. “This is one of several approaches to obtaining additional power supply, and staff will recommend that our board support the purchase.”
The Cherokee purchase helps address a near-term need for additional power. Santee Cooper is continuing its comprehensive, long-term resource planning process and intends to submit its proposed Integrated Resource Plan to the PSC on May 15. That process is focused on planning for generating resources beginning later this decade.
