By SCBIZ Staff

MYRTLE BEACH -- Ripley’s Aquarium and Grand Strand Regional Medical Center have begun purchasing Santee Cooper Green Power as Champions of the Environment, a designation that recognizes significant investment in the utility’s renewable energy program.

Their commitment brings the number of Santee Cooper Champions of the Environment to seven. Santee Cooper Green Power is produced from solar panels and methane gas naturally occurring at landfills. Since becoming the state’s first utility to offer renewable energy six years ago, Santee Cooper has generated more than $1.8 million in sales, all of which are reinvested in the development or expansion of renewable resources or facilities.

“We are proud to be the state’s leader in renewable energy,” said R.M. Singletary, senior vice president of corporate services. “We congratulate these fine businesses for recognizing the need to balance energy consumption with environmental concerns, and we thank them for helping us develop new sources of Green Power.”

Champions of the Environment are those who purchase more than 150 blocks of Green Power. Each block for commercial customers equates to 200 kilowatt hours of power generated from renewable sources. Santee Cooper recognizes renewable energy commitment through Green Power purchases in three levels, with Champions being the highest. There are more than 1,700 residential customers and 450 commercial customers purchasing Santee Cooper Green Power, and another 2,549 people participate as member-owners of 19 electric cooperatives across the state.

Ripley's Aquarium is a $40 million, state-of-the-art, 87,000-square-foot aquarium experience, located at Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach. It is South Carolina's most visited attraction, where guests are entertained by some of the world's most beautiful, fascinating and dangerous aquatic life.

“As an aquarium, we’re all about conservation and the environment,” said Peter S. MacIntyre, general manager of Ripley’s. “Santee Cooper is taking methane gas and turning it into renewable energy. I’ll gladly support that.”

Grand Strand Regional Medical Center is a 219-bed acute care hospital serving residents and visitors of Horry and surrounding counties. The hospital has the only cardiac surgery program in Horry and Georgetown counties and is a designated trauma center.

“Environmental stewardship is something we all must practice, personally and professionally,” said Doug White, CEO of Grand Strand Regional Medical Center. “Santee Cooper’s Green Power program makes it easy to give back to the community in a meaningful way that preserves the wonderful environment that defines our coastal community.”

The other Green Power Champions are Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc., city of Myrtle Beach, Coastal Carolina University, Georgetown Hospital System and Patricia Resorts.

Santee Cooper is South Carolina's state-owned electric and water utility and serves more than 160,000 residential and commercial customers in Berkeley, Georgetown and Horry counties. The utility also generates the power distributed by the state's 20 electric cooperatives to serve more than 685,000 customers in all 46 counties. All total, almost 2 million South Carolinians receive their power directly or indirectly from Santee Cooper.