Power Plants in South Carolina

South Carolina's power sector in numbers

Bywatts maps 83 operating power plants with 23.6 GW of nameplate capacity in South Carolina. Nuclear leads with 29% of that capacity across 4 plants, followed by Coal (28%) and Natural Gas (25%). The inventory also includes 13 plants (593 MW) that EIA-860 lists as retired and 1 never built; the largest retired plant is CANADYS STEAM (354 MW, retired 2013).

The largest operating plants are OCONEE (2,667 MW, Nuclear, DUKE ENERGY CAROLINAS, LLC), CATAWBA (2,410 MW, Nuclear, DUKE ENERGY CAROLINAS, LLC) and CROSS (2,390 MW, Coal, SOUTH CAROLINA PUBLIC SERVICE AUTHORITY).

Of the 82 operating plants with a recorded commissioning year, 25 came online in 2000 or later and 7 in 2010 or later; the busiest decade for new capacity was the 1970s (7.6 GW).

The largest operators by operating capacity are DUKE ENERGY CAROLINAS, LLC (15 plants, 8.5 GW), SOUTH CAROLINA PUBLIC SERVICE AUTHORITY (17 plants, 5.3 GW) and SOUTH CAROLINA ELECTRIC&GAS CO (12 plants, 5.2 GW).

Retail electricity sales in South Carolina reached 85.6 TWh in 2025, up 5.3% over ten years and up 2.0% year on year; residential customers took 39.4% of it. The average retail price across all sectors was 11.44 cents per kWh, up 19.4% since 2015.

The database also maps 569 named substations (none of the 3 with a recorded voltage is rated 345 kV or above), no data centers, 82 solar installers and 38 solar companies in South Carolina.

Operating capacity by fuel

Retail electricity sales

Sources: HIFLD power-plant inventory (capacity, fuel, operator), EIA-860 (commissioning year, retirements, operable capacity), EIA retail sales and revenue series through January 2026. Counts are of plants Bywatts lists, not every generator in the state.