Why Now
With rising customer demand, support for nuclear as a carbon-free generating resource, growth across South Carolina industries, and clear interest from state leaders, Santee Cooper initiated a competitive process in January 2025 to complete the two partially constructed AP1000 units in Fairfield County.
Santee Cooper has been maintaining those unit assets since construction stopped in 2017.
This process seizes an opportunity to leverage these existing assets and bring them online more quickly than building a project from the ground up.
In doing so, we can optimize the units’ value, the benefits to customers, and support economic development through new jobs, and safe, reliable, carbon-free energy for South Carolina.
Additionally, nuclear projects using the same Westinghouse AP1000 design have recently been completed successfully in the U.S., proving the technology’s readiness and efficiency.
This combination of need for new generation resources and availability of the latest proven technology positions Santee Cooper to optimize the value of the Fairfield nuclear units while mitigating risks to our customers.
In late October 2025, Santee Cooper’s Board of Directors approved a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Brookfield Asset Management to move forward with exclusive negotiations and feasibility evaluation for completion of the units.
Brookfield’s proposal and its resources and experience made it the clear choice for getting these units completed with no additional cost or risk to Santee Cooper customers.
