Regulators ordered the concessionaire to assess the environmental risks and costs of operating its coal-fired plants and to consider options to replace the plants with clean energy alternatives.
Dominion Energy is expected to conduct a comprehensive review of the withdrawal of the coal fleet and evaluate the replacement of its South Carolina plants, according to an order from the state’s Public Service Commission.
The commissioners will file a lawsuit ordering Dominion to “assess the reliability risks and environmental costs of the continued operation of coal plants”. The order also directs the concessionaire to consider options – informed by resource offers – to replace coal technology with state-of-the-art clean energy as part of the 2022 energy plan update.
The order requires the retirement analysis to be completed before Dominion can make any decision on how to spend customers’ money to renovate the Williams and Wateree coal plants. Both plants need to be reformed to comply with federal rules designed to protect watercourses from mercury, arsenic and other pollutants.
The request was received with praise from both renewable energy advocates and environmental conservationists. Will Harlan, senior representative for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign in South Carolina, said: “We are confident that a thorough analysis of Dominion’s coal fleet will show that eliminating these dirty and polluting plants and replacing them with clean, affordable energy it is the best way to go. “
A problematic IRP
The new order comes less than a month after the Commission unanimously rejected Dominion’s proposed integrated resource plan (IRP).
The rejected IRP, according to the Commission, did not include a demand-side management resource option or energy purchase options. Nor did the IRP model any renewable energy additions before 2026, nor any coal withdrawals before 2028.
The IRP also proposed to increase the basic service charge for solar energy customers to $ 19.50 per month, adding a “solar subscription fee” of $ 5.40 / kW per month and reducing the solar export credit that customers can receive.
The fees were described by Kate Lee Mixson, a lawyer at the Southern Environmental Law Center, as an attempt to “keep customers tied to Dominion’s rising rates”.
The proposed fees also caught the eye of South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, who asked the company to reconsider, especially “in the midst of a pandemic”.
Many pointed out the rate hike as an attempt by Dominion to recover some funds following the purchase of the South Carolina Energy & Gas dealership, as the dealership faced huge debt after its involvement in a scrapped nuclear plant construction project.
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