South Carolina § 58-42-30 - Competitive procurement.

§ 58-42-30. Competitive procurement.

(A) Within six months from the date of the enactment of this chapter, the commission shall open a docket to establish a competitive procurement program for each electrical utility for energy storage facilities to be located in South Carolina. Solicitations shall be subject to the following limitations:

(1) For transmission-connected energy storage (excluding pumped hydro) the electrical utilities shall conduct a competitive procurement for such resources, including utility-self developed projects. Each electrical utility shall file the proposed details of its competitive procurement process no later than twelve months after the date of the enactment of this chapter.

(2) The target procurement volume for stand-alone storage acquisition may not exceed the portion of stand-alone storage in the most recent commission approved integrated resource plan or integrated resource plan annual update that is equal to the portion of the respective electrical utility's peak load attributable to South Carolina customers.

(3) Stand-alone energy storage facilities with a design capacity less than or equal to twenty megawatts and intended primarily to address local reliability improvements or local capacity constraints are not subject to the competitive procurement requirements of this section.

(4)(a) The procurement of stand-alone energy storage facilities shall result in a reasonable balance of the electrical utility and independent third-party ownership of eligible facilities, as determined by the commission.

(b) An electrical utility and its affiliates may offer proposals into the competitive procurement provided that appropriate safeguards are in place to ensure that such proposals do not receive any advantage in the bid evaluation process. Electrical utility costs associated with facilities owned by an independent third-party power producer shall be capitalized and included within the electrical utility's rate base for ratemaking purposes.

(B) Competitively procured stand-alone storage shall be subject to operational protocols, equipment specifications, and inspections established by the electric utility and which are necessary to ensure the reliability of the electrical utility system. Information regarding competitively procured stand-alone storage must be provided to the Office of Regulatory Staff.

(C) Electrical utilities may recover costs incurred through such competitive procurement through rates established pursuant to Section 58-27-870.

HISTORY: 2025 Act No. 41 (H.3309), SECTION 18, eff May 12, 2025.

Editor's Note

2025 Act No. 41, SECTION 1, provides as follows:

"SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the 'South Carolina Energy Security Act.' "

2025 Act No. 41, SECTION 33, provides as follows:

"SECTION 33. (A) To foster economic development and future jobs in this State resulting from the supply chains associated with the same while supporting the significant and growing energy and capacity needs of the State, enhance grid resiliency, and maintain reliability, the General Assembly finds that the State of South Carolina should take steps necessary to encourage the development of a diverse mix of long-lead, clean generation resources that may include nuclear and advanced nuclear, biomass as defined in Section 12-63-20(B)(2) of the S.C. Code, hydrogen-capable resources, fusion energy, and other technologies, and should preserve the option of efficiency development of such long-lead resources with timely actions to establish or maintain eligibility for or capture available tax or other financial incentives or address operational needs.

"(B) For an electrical utility to capture available tax or other financial or operational incentives for South Carolina ratepayers in a timely manner, the commission may find that actions by an electrical utility in pursuit of the directives in Section 58-37-35(A) are in the public interest, provided that the commission determines that such proposed actions are in the public interest and reasonably balance economic development and industry retention benefits, capacity expansion benefits, resource adequacy and diversification and potential risks, costs, and benefits to ratepayers and otherwise comply with all other legal requirements applicable to the electrical utility's proposed action. For the South Carolina Public Service Authority, the Office of Regulatory Staff and the Public Service Authority's board of directors shall apply the same principles described in this subsection in evaluating and approving actions proposed by the management of the Public Service Authority to achieve the objectives of this section."

2025 Act No. 41, SECTION 41, provides as follows:

"SECTION 41. (A) Five years after the effective date of this act, the Office of the Regulatory Staff shall prepare a report, to be filed with the Public Utilities Review Committee and the General Assembly, to address the implementation of Article 24, Chapter 27, Title 58 as it relates to the following areas:

"(1) assessing the functioning of the procedures established by section with recommendation for any changes required to ensure their efficient functioning, to promote regulatory efficiency, and to make further the establishment of just, reasonable, and fair rates;

"(2) assessing the effect of rates on ratepayers of all classes;

"(3) assessing the reliability of the electric system and whether investments made by electric utilities increased reliability compared to any change in electric utility rates experienced by ratepayers within the same timeframe; and

"(4) any other information requested by the General Assembly to be included within the report.

"(B) The Office of Regulatory Staff may engage a qualified, independent third party to assist in preparation of the report.

"(C) All expenses and charges incurred by the Office of Regulatory Staff in the performance of its duties within this section may be defrayed by assessments made by the Comptroller General against the regulated electrical utilities regulated and based upon twenty-five percent of the gross revenues collected by such electrical utilities from their business done wholly within this State in the manner set out in Section 58-4-60 for other corporations."

2025 Act No. 41, SECTION 42, provides as follows:

"SECTION 42. Upon passage of this act, Dominion Energy shall evaluate the process for converting the Wateree Generating Station from coal-fired generation to biomass-fired generation. Biomass-fired generation includes, but is not limited to, generation from the firing of wood pellets and wood chips. Dominion Energy must make a report concerning the conversion process to the Public Service Commission and General Assembly by no later than January 13, 2026."