Column: South Carolina's power grid needs upgrading, data centers should pay

South Carolina is growing, and it’s growing fast. New manufacturing plants, data centers and residential developments are bringing more people, jobs and investment to the Palmetto State. That growth, while good for the local economy, is putting immense pressure and strain on infrastructure that was not built to handle unlimited demand.

South Carolina's power grid is an example of this, and yet it is often overlooked by residents and politicians. It makes sense; unlike roads, where residents can see deterioration through potholes, increased traffic and seemingly endless construction, the power grid operates silently in the background. However, as the state continues to grow, the strain on this system will become increasingly difficult to ignore.

With this growth also comes the opportunity to make South Carolina’s power grid cleaner, more efficient and prepared for the future. Currently, South Carolina relies on a mix of nuclear power, coal, natural gas and renewable energy sources to generate electricity.

Nuclear energy forms the backbone of that system. In 2024, nuclear plants produced 56% of all power generated in the state, followed by natural gas at 22% and coal at 17%, according to the South Carolina Energy Office. Renewable sources make up 4%, including hydroelectric, solar and biomass sources such as wood waste and landfill gas. Other sources account for 1%. Also, South Carolina generated approximately 16% more electricity than it consumed in 2024, making the state a net exporter.

An electricity surplus does not mean the state can ignore what future demand could look like. South Carolina has spent decades attracting major manufacturers, and it has worked. From 2017-23, manufacturing employment in the state grew by 8.4%, accounting for more than 63,000 new jobs, according to the South Carolina Department of Commerce. In fact, manufacturing now employs nearly 14% of the state’s private-sector workforce.

That growth in manufacturing has helped fuel South Carolina’s economy, and there are no signs that it is stopping anytime soon. Scout Motors is one of the most recent, visible examples, with its multibillion-dollar electric vehicle complex in Blythewood, which is expected to bring 4,000 permanent jobs to the state.

Projects of this scale come with enormous energy demands, adding another layer of pressure to a power grid that will have to expand alongside South Carolina’s economy.

Manufacturing is not the only industry that drives this demand. For better or worse, South Carolina has also become increasingly attractive to data center developers, whose facilities require enormous amounts of electricity to operate servers and cooling systems around the clock.

The scale of power use of these data centers is important to understand because it can drastically change depending on the size of the project. For example, the average data center has a demand of approximately 5-10 megawatts. Large hyperscale data centers, which are becoming increasingly common, have power demands of 100 megawatts or more. To put that into perspective, a facility that demands 100 megawatts is equivalent to the electricity consumption of 350,000-400,000 electric cars annually.

South Carolina is currently attracting projects on that scale. Google announced plans to invest $3.3 billion in two new data center campuses in Dorchester County and expand its existing Berkeley County facility. This investment is expected to create hundreds of jobs across both counties.

Meta is also constructing an $800 million data center in Aiken County. Meta’s data center is expected to create approximately 100 jobs upon completion. Meanwhile, Cielo Digital Infrastructure announced plans for a roughly $2.1 billion data center campus in Cherokee County, which includes an electrical substation.

These projects undoubtedly bring investment and economic growth to South Carolina. However, they also show why the state can no longer treat its electrical infrastructure as an afterthought. Instead, the argument is that the average family does not need to be stuck footing the bill for these data centers to make their money.

Meta does an excellent job of communicating that it plans to cover the full cost of the infrastructure required to serve its Aiken County data center. The company has also committed to adding new clean and renewable energy sources to South Carolina’s power grid — specifically, 136 megawatts of new capacity.

This approach should become the norm. South Carolina should continue to welcome manufacturers, data centers and other large investments. However, the costs associated with and created by those projects should not be passed on to residents. If a company’s arrival creates the need for a new substation, transmission upgrades or additional power generation, that company should pay its fair share.

South Carolina’s power grid will continue to grow alongside the state’s economy. Upgrades are inevitable, and they will be expensive. Growth shouldn’t be shut down or slowed because of this, but rather the multibillion-dollar companies creating the growth should also work to improve the infrastructure that they use to make their billions. Whether they do this out of the goodwill of their heart or because of a law, it needs to happen. Families shouldn’t struggle because tech companies want more data.

Column: South Carolina's power grid needs upgrading, data centers should pay

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