South Carolina utility to add 84.5MW of solar

OREANDA-NEWS. June 01, 2015. South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) this week reached an agreement with state environmental groups on a plan to build 84.5MW of solar capacity in the state by the end of 2020.

The agreement awaits final approval from the South Carolina Public Service Commission (PSC), which is set to hold a hearing on it on 2 June.

Terms set the Scana subsidiary's solar generation target at 2pc of the state's peak retail electricity demand over the previous five-year period, amounting to 84.5MW of new generation capacity. The agreement requires SCE&G to satisfy 50pc of the capacity with systems up to 10MW, and the other 50pc from residential systems of less than 1MW.

SCE&G projects the proposal will cost about \\$37mn to implement, according to filings with the PSC.

"We are committed to expanding the use of renewable energy resources, and pleased to have reached an agreement that will allow South Carolinians to have greater choice to access solar," SCE&G general manager of renewable products and services John Raftery said.

The agreement recommends that SCE&G deploy at least 30MW of utility-scale capacity by the end of 2016, which will be covered in a forthcoming solicitation from the company.

The agreement is in response to a petition the Southern Environmental Law Center filed with the commission in February on behalf of the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. The petition requested that SCE&G establish a distributed energy resource program, as required by state legislation enacted last year. The same groups were party to an agreement reached with Duke Energy this month to deploy 110MW of solar.

Commercial supporters of the SCE&G proposed program include major discount retailer Wal-Mart.

The settlement outlines a performance-based incentive for smaller customers' generators with systems no larger than 20kW. The incentive starts at 4?/kWh for the first 2.5MW installed, decreasing in value as more capacity, up to 9MW, is installed.

Ownership of renewable energy credits produced by the expected capacity will be retained by SCE&G as a cost recovery mechanism, according to the settlement.