The Public Service Commission of South Carolina approved Duke Energy’s proposal to build a new natural‑gas‑fired generation facility in Anderson County on March 26, 2026. The decision follows a public hearing and open‑house events where the company presented project details and gathered community feedback.
The approved plant will be a combined‑cycle natural‑gas facility that will add dispatchable capacity to Duke Energy’s portfolio. It is designed to be one of the most efficient gas plants on the company’s system, using state‑of‑the‑art environmental controls that reduce water use by 90% compared with traditional wet‑cooling technology, eliminate vapor plumes, and eliminate the need for chemical water treatment.
Duke Energy’s capital plan has expanded to $103 billion over five years, the largest spending plan among regulated U.S. utilities. The plan is driven largely by growing demand from data centers and artificial‑intelligence workloads, and the Anderson County plant is the first new generation facility in the state in a decade and the first major project approved under the 2025 Energy Security Act.
The project is expected to create more than 2,200 construction‑phase jobs, with 746 jobs in Anderson County, and will support 125 operating‑phase jobs once the plant is online. The economic impact is projected at $84–$85 million annually in statewide output and $10 million in wages.
Duke Energy South Carolina President Tim Pearson said the commission recognized the plant as “the right resource at the right time at the right site.” The company’s leadership highlighted the plant’s role in meeting the region’s growing electricity needs and in supporting a diversified, reliable energy mix.
The approval underscores Duke Energy’s strategy to meet the rapid growth of South Carolina’s population and business activity, particularly the surge in data‑center demand. It also demonstrates the company’s commitment to efficient, low‑water natural‑gas generation as part of its broader capital investment plan.”
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