Bright future ahead, new solar farm coming to Jackson

Friday, June 1, 2018

News 12 @ 6 O'clock / NBC 26 at 7

JACKSON, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) – This land may not look like much now, but with the sun beating down, it's easy to see why it's been chosen as the site of a new solar farm.

"About eighty percent of the sixty-five acres will be used for solar panels."

The builder, Southern Current, says the plant will be 19 times larger than this Sage Mill Panel Park in Graniteville.

"This 19-megawatt solar plant that will be installed here--in layman terms--it'll power three thousand homes," said Will Willams, Director, Economic Partnership.

3,263 homes to be exact.

But as Will Williams, head of Aiken's Economic Development Partnership says--it goes beyond just powering your home.

"The county will see additional property tax revenue come in--probably about 200 times what the landowner is currently paying."

Southern Current estimates it will pay the county an extra $95,000 a year--money that can be used for improvements.

"This is truly a good investment--that also has a low impact on the environment, to the area."

Williams says--this isn't your traditional manufacturing plant--which would bring in a lot of people.

It'll be low maintenance and won't raise the carbon footprint.

"I think there's a lot of energy, no pun intended--in this region."

Williams says Aiken has seen 100 megawatts of renewable energy come to the county in the past year alone.

Southern Current also says it has plans to invest 2 billion dollars and pump 2 more gigawatts into South Carolina over the next three years.

That could affect over 300,000 homes.

Folks in this area will probably be saying they have clean energy powering their home.

Both Williams and Southern Current say that taking this from farmland to futuristic solar panels is just one part of a larger plan to light up South Carolina for years--even decades to come.