State-owned utility, Santee Cooper, is reportedly seeking partners to finance the revival of a power plant project in South Carolina. The project was initially abandoned eight years ago due to soaring costs and consequent bankruptcy of a prominent company.
Santee Cooper is eyeing the demand boom from data centres to expedite the revival of the Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Power Station’s two reactors, which halted construction back in 2017. The project’s costs escalated from a projected $9.8 billion to an overwhelming $25 billion, ultimately leading to the bankruptcy of nuclear power company, Westinghouse. Moreover, the expenditure resulted in fraud convictions for two senior executives of SCANA, Santee Cooper’s partner in the venture.
Despite past setbacks, Santee Cooper believes nuclear power’s elevated interest, spurred by AI data centre’s surging power demands, can attract potential investors. Following deals struck by Microsoft and Constellation Energy to revive Three Mile Island’s reactor and Meta’s call for nuclear capacity proposals, Santee Cooper hopes to entice a consortium including a tech firm aspiring for power security.
While welcoming potential investors, the utility understands the political sensitivities linked to the project due to its past history and state-owned nature. It expects proper scrutiny and interest from politicians while brokering any deal.
Original source: Read the full article on TechCrunch
