FAIRFIELD COUNTY, S.C. (WIS) – Dominion Energy has received approval from the federal government to extend an operating contract for its Midlands facility.
The V.C. Summer Nuclear Station received a contract extension of 20 years from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), ensuring that the station will remain fully operational until at least 2062.
The station is located in Fairfield County and provides electricity for both Dominion Energy and the state-owned facility, Santee Cooper.
The facility houses a 966-megawatt nuclear unit that creates carbon-free electricity that powers close to 242,000 homes and is under oversight from the NRC.
V.C. Summer’s initial contract allowed the facility to run until 2022, but in 2004, Dominion received an extension on its operating license to operate until 2042. This new contract grants the station an additional 20 years.
The V.C. Summer Nuclear Station was initially set to be expanded on as a joint project by SCE&G and Santee Cooper before it folded and left South Carolina ratepayers responsible for its sunk costs.
SCE&G was later absorbed as part of Dominion Energy.
Earlier this year, Santee Cooper, along with New York-based banking firm Centerview Partners LLC, put out a request for proposals from private firms to buy the unfinished nuclear reactors and finish the project.
“We think it will benefit our customers, and we think it will benefit the people of South Carolina, or we won’t do it,” Santee Cooper President and CEO Jimmy Staton told a State House subcommittee in January when testifying.
Dominion Energy’s Chief Nuclear Officer, Eric Carr, said that the station will help provide clean energy to South Carolina as it continues to grow.
“With steady population growth and economic development, South Carolina will continue to need a clean and reliable workhorse like V.C. Summer to power our customers’ homes and businesses around the clock well into the future,” Dominion Energy’s Chief Nuclear Officer Eric Carr said in a statement.
Dominion also provides $33 million in annual tax revenue to Fairfield County in addition to its power supply, according to a statement from the company sent to WIS.
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