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Santee Cooper Announces Green Power Contract Signing in Georgetown County

Submitted by: John Warner on Sep 02, 2007 at 1:50 am Tagged with: Next Energy Source:

GEORGETOWN, S.C. — Santee Cooper and Georgetown County formalized an agreement to turn Georgetown’s landfill methane gas into Santee Cooper electricity with a contract signing at council chambers today.

The Georgetown County Generating Station will be Santee Cooper’s fourth Green Power methane gas generating facility contributing to the power grid. Santee Cooper introduced commercially available renewable power to South Carolina in 2001, when the utility opened its first methane gas-fueled generating station in Horry County.

Methane gas is produced by decaying garbage and is considered to be renewable since it is created through the natural decomposition of organic materials. Burning methane to generate electricity has several positive benefits: it removes methane as a landfill gas emission; it offsets the use of coal and other fossil fuels to generate electricity; and it creates economic benefits in the sale of methane and the jobs created by the projects.

Santee Cooper plans to eventually generate 45 megawatts of electricity through these and several other landfill projects across the state. That would be enough to power more than 20,000 average-sized homes. The potential generating capacity of the Georgetown station will be determined as methane gas levels are measured in the coming weeks.

The Georgetown facility is unique in one key way: it is being supported in part by revenues from Santee Cooper’s Green Power sales. Customers support Green Power by opting to make block purchases of $3 or more per month, and all Green Power revenues are used to expand existing renewable projects or to develop new ones. The Georgetown landfill is smaller and expected to generate less methane than Santee Cooper’s other methane-fueled generating stations, and so the power will cost more per kilowatt to produce. The Green Power revenues will offset the additional costs associated with the Georgetown project.

“Georgetown County is delighted to enter into a partnership with Santee Cooper to offer an environmentally friendly solution to methane gas,” said Sel Hemingway, chairman of the Georgetown County Council. “Santee Cooper has been a good partner to us in many ways through the years, from
selling us our power to helping us secure new economic development prospects. This contract offers a natural extension of that already prosperous partnership.”

Lonnie Carter, Santee Cooper’s president and chief executive officer, congratulated Georgetown for its dedication to the methane-fueled project. “We are proud to partner with Georgetown as we, literally, turn trash into treasure. This Georgetown Generating Station continues Santee Cooper’s commitment to renewable energy, which is a key part of our future plans for meeting the power needs of this booming state, while protecting the environment and diversifying our fuel mix. The ability to use South Carolina’s renewable resources to generate power benefits our customers and adds value to the state.” Santee Electric Cooperative will provide distribution of the electricity from the landfill to the grid. The Georgetown County Generating Station will be supported by Santee Cooper’s Winyah Generating Station in maintenance, operational assistance and monitoring as needed.

Santee Cooper currently operates existing methane-fueled generating units at landfills in Horry, Lee and Richland counties, with partners including other electric cooperatives, Waste Management and Allied Waste. The Georgetown station is expected to be commercially operational in early 2009.

Santee Cooper is South Carolina's state-owned electric and water utility and serves more than 160,000 residential and commercial customers in Berkeley, Georgetown and Horry counties. The utility also generates the power distributed by the state's 20 electric cooperatives to more than 685,000 customers in all 46 counties. All total, almost two million South Carolinians receive their power directly or indirectly from Santee Cooper. For more information, visit www.santeecooper.com