Proposed power plant looking for customers

ORANGEBURG COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA - A company interested in building an alternative fuel power plant in Orangeburg County is seeking someone to buy the plants electricity.

The buying of the energy generation is really wide open, said Chad Lowder, TriCounty Electric Cooperative manager of marketing and government. It could go to anybody.

Orangeburg County Biomass LLC is seeking an option to buy 55 acres at the John Matthews Industrial Park at U.S. 301 and U.S. 176 for a $98 million biomass plant.

The 35megawatt, woodfired plant would burn wood chips and forestry thinning for electricity. The plant could employ about 27.

County Council gave first reading approval to the option just recently. Second reading and a public hearing are scheduled for April 19.

Lowder acknowledged the cooperative has ongoing discussions with Orangeburg Biomass but declined comment on the status of any agreements or contractual arrangements.

TriCounty most likely would serve as the power supplier to the facility and ensure the power purchasers have the wherewithal to purchase power, he said. TriCounty is not a direct purchaser of power with the actual responsibility for purchase and distribution falling to Central Electric Cooperative, Lowder said.

Orangeburg County Development Commission Executive Director Gregg Robinson said the commission is talking to a number of utility providers, though he declined to provide specifics.

Robinson said a contract purchase agreement needs to be entered into within the next six months to a year, if not sooner. It is the next critical step, he said.

He said discussions have included the Orangeburg Department of Public Utilities, SCANA Corporation, Progress Energy, Duke Energy and North Carolina electric cooperatives.

Robinson said unlike South Carolina, North Carolina passed legislation in 2007 requiring utilities to get more of their energy from renewable sources and reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions associated with coalburning plants.

Like S.C. Commissioner of Agriculture Hugh Weathers, Robinson supports state incentives to encourage utilities to use alternative fuels.

If we want to see something happen, the most effective manner to do that is for incentives, he said. Incentives work.

Robinson said tax credits and other types of discounts should be provided to utility providers who choose to purchase alternative energy because such measures will make the state more effective and competitive.

Robinson said tax credits will help utilities to take on the exposure and the risk of green power.

We have to have... a larger footprint on alternative energy rather than being dependent on foreign oil, he said. We have to look at the technology and funding of the technology to get it to a level where it can be competitive.

The facility will provide direct power to local purchasers, as well as provide surplus power to the local power supplier via direct grid connection.

Messages left with Jeff Thordahl, consultant for Orangeburg Biomass Enterprises, were not returned.