Santee Cooper announces two renewable energy contracts

Charleston Regional Business Journal
Staff
May 24, 2011

Two companies will provide Santee Cooper with renewable energy that will power 1,600 homes.

Santee Cooper announced the 20-year contracts with W2E-Organic Power and BioEnergy Technologies on Monday in a news release.

The companies will provide 3.2 megawatts of power to Santee Cooper, pushing the utility’s total renewable energy generation to 187 megawatts online or under contract.

W2E-Organic Power and BioEnergy Technologies will provide the energy through anaerobic digestion, which captures methane gas that is produced through the decomposition of organic materials in an airtight container, according to the release. The companies then use the methane gas to generate electricity.

W2E-Organic Power expects to deliver power to Santee Cooper within a year since it has received a state environmental permit to build a 1.6 megawatt generating station in Columbia. The station will use bio-gas from food waste, grease and yard waste.

BioEnergy Technologies will begin its permitting process and expects to deliver power in 2012. That plant will use food waste, grease, food-processing waste and wastewater sludge to also create 1.6 megawatts of energy.

Back To The Top