Santee Cooper powers down coal plant plans
All the controversy stoked by Santee Cooper's planned Pee Dee coal-burning plant over the past three years was all but snuffed out when the state-owned utility's board suspended the project.
The decision to nix the generator hinged on three key factors: The economic recession lightened demand for Santee Cooper power; proposed regulations call for costly new technology on coal plants; and plans by the utility's biggest customer, Central Electric Power Cooperative, to transfer 1,000 megawatts of its load demand to Duke Energy beginning in 2013.
Santee Cooper CEO Lonnie Carter said that although the vote was termed a "suspension," that language merely creates a safety net in case the Central-Duke deal falls through or another major change in business restores the need for more generating capacity.
Taking flight?
Boeing Co. notified South Carolina that it will seek permits to build an aircraft assembly line for its 787 jet in North Charleston in a move that intensifies the coast-to-coast jockeying for the jobs the plant would create.
The company stressed that the step was merely "procedural," saying no decisions have been made about where it will expand.
Boeing recently bought Vought Aircraft's local operation, which makes aft fuselage sections for the hot-selling but long-delayed 787. The $1 billion acquisition has stirred hopes that the aerospace giant will build a new assembly line for the plane in North Charleston.
Training ground
Ladson-based Force Protection, which makes armored vehicles designed to withstand powerful explosive blasts, marked the opening of a training facility outside Durham, N.C. The 212-acre operation in Roxboro has a 432,000-square-foot building where military personnel can learn how to operate the company's armored vehicles. Outside, a driving course simulates the mountainous terrain of Afghanistan. The facility will train about 60 students weekly.
Shattered
North Charleston-based Coastal Glass Distributors, once one of the largest residential and commercial glass fabricators in the Southeast, accepted its final order after more than two decades in business.
The company employed about 150 people in its plant off Ashley Phosphate Road.
