By Dennis Quick

Last year, when state-owned utility Santee Cooper partnered with Coastal Carolina University on a solar photovoltaic, renewable energy project, the sun became a serious player as a future energy source in the already sunny Palmetto State.

On an industrial level, green power is generally defined as electricity generated from the sun, wind or through the use of methane gas extracted from decomposing garbage in landfills.

The $385,000 Santee Cooper-Coastal Carolina project consists of a solar panel pavilion capable of producing 16 kilowatts, enough to supply power to more than 75 computers. Sunlight absorbed by the solar panels is converted from direct current to alternating current. The converted current is eventually sent to the Santee Cooper grid.

From 2% to 5% of the electricity purchased by participants in the renewable energy project is green power. Santee Cooper then reinvests the money from its green power sales in renewable energy initiatives throughout the state.

Santee Cooper President and CEO Lonnie Carter called the unveiling of the solar energy site at Coastal Carolina an historic occasion for South Carolina. The project is the first of its kind in South Carolina, the first photovoltaic project at a public university and the first project funded by Santee Cooper’s green power participants.

Santee Cooper, which entered the green arena in 2001, has been especially solar-minded over the past year. About eight months before entering into its partnership with Coastal Carolina, the utility giant entered a partnership with Clemson University to make use of solar energy technology at Clemson University’s Flour Daniel Engineering Innovation Building.
That project includes a 15-kilowatt PV solar panel array that will supply energy to the campus grid and produce an estimated annual energy savings of $93,000.

Earlier this year, Santee Cooper and the Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina worked with Hilton Head Middle School to launch the Green Power Solar Schools program.

Hilton Head is the first of five schools this year  to receive a 1.5-kilowatt solar power system, which is designed to provide teaching, research and hands-on learning opportunities.

Palmetto Electric Cooperative will service the Hilton Head Middle School solar power system. Aiken Electric Cooperative, Berkeley Electric Cooperative, Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative and Laurens Electric Cooperative will serve the four additional, yet-to-be-chosen schools.

“The Green Power Solar Schools program and the Coastal Carolina project are a result of Santee Cooper’s commitment to invest funds from the sale of green power in renewable energy projects in South Carolina,” Carter said.

At the University of South Carolina, solar energy and other renewable fuel sources are crucial components of the university’s “Future Fuels” research program.

“With rising utility rates across America, people have become much more interested in alternative energy sources such as solar,” said Sonny Dubose, renewable energy project coordinator for the S.C. Energy Office in Columbia.

Last June, South Carolina established a tax credit for the purchase and installation of solar heating and cooling systems.
Taxpayers may claim a credit of 25% of the installation costs of these systems. The maximum allowed credit is $3,500 or 50% of the tax liability per taxable year, whichever comes first.

With the state’s tax incentive and the rising concern over global warming, the time is right for homeowners and business owners to give solar power serious consideration, Dubose said.

Erik Lensch, president of Rock Hill-based SC Solar Inc., which provides solar lighting, water heating, water pumping and other solar-related products and services, said the demand for solar power is beginning to rise.

“From an installation standpoint, things are just starting to heat up in South Carolina. Most of our installation work in previous years has been in North Carolina,” Lensch said.