“Final, exclusive negotiations” concerning the two partially built units are being guided by a Letter of Intent between the two companies, with a six-week initial project feasibility period during which the parties will jointly select a project manager and evaluate construction providers that would be used in resuming construction of the two nuclear units. The six weeks would also allow for advanced discussions with entities interested in buying nuclear power generated by the units and facilitate additional due diligence, leading to execution of a Memorandum of Understanding, Santee Cooper said.
Construction of two AP1000 units began at VC Summer in 2013. However, the owners of the Summer project – Scana subsidiary South Carolina Electric & Gas Company (SCE&G) and Santee Cooper – decided in August 2017 to abandon construction of the units following reactor vendor Westinghouse’s filing for bankruptcy in March that year. Majority owner SCE&G (now Dominion Energy South Carolina) transferred its interest in the assets to Santee Cooper in 2018.
Earlier this year, Santee Cooper launched a competitive bidding process for the potential sale of the VC Summer assets to a third party who would complete the unfinished nuclear units. Initial expressions of interest were received from over 70 potential bidders, with 15 formal proposals submitted.
“Our goals include completing these reactors with private money and no ratepayer or taxpayer expense, delivering financial relief to our customers and gaining significant additional power capacity for South Carolina,” Santee Cooper Board Chairman Peter McCoy said. “Brookfield’s proposal would do just that, and the company has the financial capability to stand behind its proposal.”
“As we move closer to a final deal, our goal remains the same: to enable completion of these two units and thus provide 2,200 MW of carbon-free, reliable nuclear power that delivers energy security for South Carolina and specific benefits to Santee Cooper customers who are paying our initial investment,” Santee Cooper President and CEO Jimmy Staton said, thanking Governor of South Carolina Henry McMaster and the South Carolina General Assembly members, who he said had been instrumental in encouraging Santee Cooper to conduct the bidding process.
The two-unit Vogtle plant in Georgia was at a similar stage of construction to Summer at the time the South Carolina project was abandoned. Vogtle’s owners – Southern Company’s Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power, MEAG Power and Dalton Utilities – opted to continue with the project which saw Vogtle 3 and 4 become the first new nuclear units to be constructed in the USA in more than 30 years, with unit 3 entering commercial operation in 2023 and unit 4 in 2024.
A strategic decision to maintain the equipment after the project was abandoned now meant for a less costly path to completion, Staton said: “The state of the units, and the fact that they use the same Westinghouse AP1000 technology that is now operating in Georgia and overseas, make these assets very attractive to the nuclear power industry,” he said. Brookfield is 51%-owner of Westinghouse, a fact which “added to Brookfield’s proposal,” he said.
According to Santee Cooper, completion of the two VC Summer units could generate thousands of temporary construction jobs and hundreds of highly skilled, permanent operational jobs, as well as strengthening and diversifying South Carolina’s energy portfolio, enhancing grid reliability, and helping attract new industries, bringing more jobs and other economic benefits.
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved SCE&G’s request to terminate the combined construction and operating licences for the units in 2019.
