The South Carolina Public Service Commission (PSC) took up a philosophical-sounding question on Wednesday that’s anything but academic in a state where data centers and proposals for more are increasingly under siege by environmental and citizens groups: When is a power utility facility a power utility facility?
At issue before the commission: Does Valara Holdings have to win PSC approval for its planned $3-billion, 900,000-square-foot data center in Spartanburg County, since it will be powered by its own 457-megawatt natural gas plant?
Under state law, attorneys for the Southern Environmental Law Center told commissioners, any “major utility facility” generating more than 75 megawatts must go through the PSC’s siting and environmental approval process.
But Valara lawyers argued that, under another section of the state code, a power generation facility only becomes a “utility” when it sells electricity to the public.
“Does the Utility Facility Siting Act pertain to purely private self-generation that does not serve the public?” Valara attorney Andrew D’Antoni asked. “We believe the answer to that question is no.”
Meanwhile, Ben Mustian, deputy director of the Office of Regulatory Staff, which by statute represents the public interest in matters before the commission, urged members to stick to the plain language of the law.
“You go through this legal gymnastics to say ‘OK, it doesn’t apply to them,’” Mustian told commissioners. “Or as we read the statute, you just say ‘It says what it says.’”
The commission has said it will issue a final ruling by Sept. 4.
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