The South Carolina Public Service Commission could soon hear two requests that would allow a company to build a data center in Aiken County. 

The Public Service Commission is expected to meet at 10 a.m. May 14 to hear upgrade requests that would allow Aiken Electric Cooperative to supply power to a data center. 

The commission "essentially functions as a court" when utilities and other regulated companies seek to upgrade their infrastructure or make changes to their rates. 

Though Aiken Electric would supply power to the data center, Santee Cooper (also known as the South Carolina Public Services Authority) and Central Electric Power Cooperative submitted the upgrade requests to the commission. 

Santee Cooper is a state-owned utility that generates power at four plants. It sells part of the power it generates to Central Electric which, in turn, sells the power to the 18 member-owned electric cooperatives in South Carolina including Aiken Electric. Aiken Electric then sells the power to its members. 

Santee Cooper asks the Public Service Commission to approve interior modifications to its Aiken No. 1 substation, to expand the existing Aiken No. 3 substation and to install two 230 kilovolt power lines between the Aiken No. 3 substation and a proposed Mount Zion switching station (a distance of 16.2 miles) in existing right-of-way. 

The company plans to begin building in August and for the upgrades to become operational in fall 2025. 

Central Electric asks the Public Service Commission to approve the construction of two new 230 kilovolt power lines in new right-of-way between the Mount Zion switching station and a substation to be built on the company's property (a distance of 1.5 miles). 

If the upgrades are approved, publicly available information suggests the data center would be built in Sage Mill Industrial Park. 

Sage Mill Industrial Park is located along Bettis Academy Road between Interstate 20 and the Edgefield County line. 

Aiken Electric provides power to Sage Mill Industrial Park. 

A map included in the application to the Public Service Commission shows property in Sage Mill Industrial Park owned by Starskey LLC. 

Starskey LLC, purchased around 570 acres in Sage Mill Industrial Park for $19.3 million on Dec. 7, 2022, according to Aiken County property tax records.

Starskey is a data collection company according to information Will Williams, president and CEO of the Western South Carolina Economic Development Partnership, provided to Aiken County Council last April. 

There is an existing substation located north of Mount Zion Road. The substation is around 1.5 miles from the furthest reaches of the Starskey property. 

If the power upgrades are for Starskey, the data center could represent an investment of $800 million and the creation of 50 new jobs. 

Aiken County Council voted last April to provide a fee-in-lieu of property tax agreement to the company. In exchange for the investment, Aiken County agreed to allow the company to pay a fee based on an assessment ratio of 4% (the normal business rate is 6%) and a rate of 235.2 mills for the next 40 years. 

Though the county's agreement is with Starskey, the data center will belong to another company.

Williams told the Aiken Standard last April that Starskey represents a large company that's one of the top five data center developers in the world. 

The Public Service Commission hearing will take place at 101 Executive Center Drive in Columbia. 

For more information, call the Public Service Commission at 803-896-5100.


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