Increased Electricity Demand a Challenge for Economic Development

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

While Anderson County economic development posted another solid year in 2024, growing challenges are on the horizon.

Last year brought 511 new jobs to the county along with $95 million in new investment. The average pay of the new jobs was $36.33 per hour. The countywide average wage is now $25.14 per hour, only slightly behind neighboring Greenville and Spartanburg Counties.

But a growing demand for electrical power poses a new challenge for 2025 and the years beyond.

“The first thing a potential company used to inquire about was sewer capacity,” said Anderson County Administrator Rusty Burns. “We have the sewer capacity. Now it’s electrical capacity. This is true across the United States.”

County Economic Development Director Burris Nelson said where once companies sought 2-3 megawatts of power for a new location, they are now requesting from 30-60 megawatts to more than 100 megawatts of energy capacity for their business. (One megawatt will power an average of 400 households for a month.

Other counties and states are facing similar challenges delivering such large amounts of energy to specific locations.

Last year Santee Cooper began work on a $470 million expansion of the utility’s John S. Rainey Generating Station in Iva which will add approximately 180 megawatts of capacity to Rainey Station, which is fueled by natural gas and has a capacity of approximately 1,000 megawatts.

But Nelson said part of the challenge is delivering large amounts of electricity to requested locations in a timely manner. The construction of substations and transmission lines take an average of 24 months to complete, which does not fit the window of many requests from potential companies.

“We’re losing some industry due to lack of electric capacity,” said Nelson.

Nelson said road conditions are also becoming an impediment to economic development in the county. One-third of the county’s roads were deemed in failed or failing condition in an outside study of all roads completed last year. Additionally 57 of the county’s 162 bridges cannot support the weight of school buses or fire trucks, which would mean they could not support large trucks used by some industries.

Council is considering a capital tax referendum to fund road repairs, but unless it is approved, there is no funding source to maintain the 1,547 miles of county-owned roads.