By Jessica Holdman, SC Daily Gazette
Funding from Facebook is helping to pay 100 million solar projects in Orangeberg County, which can cost a lot of power to build other other power companies.
According to Coal Price, Executive Vice President of Member Services in Central Electric Power Cooperative, power companies expect similar deals on future solar projects in the state, especially when construction delays and revenue prices rise and the Congress supports these projects by federal tax credit.
How angel investors helped launch Facebook, social media platforms and other tech companies are filling a similar role for the solar industry.
Facebook’s main company, Meta, last week signed an agreement for the 100 MW project with Nisholi’s solar developer Silicon Rank, and Colombia -based Central Electric Co -operative.
Companies deal with Meta a year later, when social media giant has announced that it is developing a massive, energy -related data center near the icon so that it can complain of its online tasks.
“We are grateful to Central for supporting our energy goals in South Carolina and are happy to have a relationship with Silicon Ranch, which we share in these communities where we look for a positive impact,” said the head of Meta Arvi Prakha.
‘If not for Meta’
The Silicon Rench will finance, construct, owner and operate the new solar project. He will join the state -owned Power Company Central Cooper’s grid, which will result in strength to all 19 rural electrical coordination in South Carolina.
It also includes the icon Electric Cooperative, under construction under the $ 800 million data center at the Sage Mill Industrial Park in Granite Wheel.
“This announcement is another step for this change project,” said Gary Stoccabri, CEO of the Icon Cooperative.
Meta will buy the so -called renewable energy credit associated with the project as a social media company operates on its own purpose of carbon neutrality.
Once the electricity enters the grid, it is impossible to know where every megawatt comes from – solar, gas, air and coal electricity is mixed together in the power lines. Therefore, these credit, whose companies appear on separate and actual energy, allow consumers’ monthly electricity bills, allowing their buyers to claim ownership of basic social and environmental benefits of clean energy.
The developers extended the money generated from the sale of these credit towards the purchase of land and the construction of solar array, which will be located 50 miles east of the Meta Data Center in this regard. Through this agreement, the Meta solar project is buying the cost of construction, which makes it financially possible. San Russell Out, D. Saint. Mathews, on December 4, 2024, during the Chamber’s Organizational Meeting on Wednesday, December 4, 2024, when he and other newly elected senators were sworn in. (Photo for Mary Ann Cheston/SC Daily Gazette)
“If not for Meta, this renewable resources will not mean,” said State Sen, Russell Out, D. St.. Mathews, who confirmed that the solar projects would be located near the small town of Cordova, just outside Orangeberg.
The Silicon Rank refused to show the correct size and location of the solar project, saying it would follow the standards of the industry. Which holds its image between 800 and 1,000 acres.
The company is expected to receive property tax breaks for the project, but details of the deal were not available immediately. Orange County officials did not respond to the SC Daily Gazette messages.
Both the solar array and the data center are expected to be completed in 2027.
Rural solar fears
This has identified the Silicon Rank’s fourth renewable energy project with Central Electric and a total of $ 22.5 billion in four states. This is the first of the meta in the state of the state.
“I am hoping that this is a good deal for everyone,” said Ott.
Anywhere in South Carolina, Silicon Ranch is producing a 200 MW solar form at 2,000 acres in the Lambert Town Community of Inland George Town County.
The project, which is like other major solar developments in rural areas across the country, has faced opposition from close residents. In 2022, about 150 150 people opposed the project, citing the loss of agriculture and wooden land, the loss of wildlife residence and aesthetic impact on rural landscapes.
According to data from the state’s Utility Watch Dog, July 31, 2024, in South Carolina, there was more than 1,500 MW of solar power on the utility scale. The agency does not measure how much solar projects are in the state.
Fortunately, Orangberg County has an ordinance that has rules on how solar projects can be made. For counties that do not have rules, lawmakers have appointed them at the state level to address these concerns as part of a large -scale energy package approved in May.
These rules are needed, for any project that has 13 or more acres of land, that solar panels are placed 50 feet from the road and 200 feet from any homes, churches or schools. Trees and plants should be planted, which will grow at least two feet of high solar panels. The developers also want to weap six feet high.
Ott said about the rules, “I am not opposed to the solar but I want to make sure it has happened properly.”
According to the Silicon Rank, its announcement, the pasture will make the grass and flower plants beneficial to bees and other jirgas under and around its solar array.
Mounting costs and expiration credit
Georgetown County officials also staged a Silicon Rank for construction delays, which kept the project more than a year. The company also cited permission issues as well as delays in supply, which have inflicted solar companies across the country.
According to data from the US Energy Information Administration, developers across the United States pushed back 19 % of the projects in 2023, of which a small improvement in 23 % of the projects delayed a year ago.
With these delays, the prices have risen slightly. According to federal statistics, solar power costs about $ 1,600 per kg to build in 2022, an increase of 1.7 % over a year ago.
Meanwhile, last month, President Donald Trump’s signed GOP Megala eliminated tax credit for wind and solar projects years ago, compared to the planning under the 2022 Biden Hallmark Clean Energy Package.
The program is offered a 30 % federal tax credit tax on investment. It also includes separate credit based on the amount of energy generated – 3 cents per kg.
Under the “big, beautiful” law changes, these projects should continue until the end of 2027 to qualify.
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