Offshore Wind Energy Plan Moves Ahead Off S.C. Coast

The next step in North Myrtle Beach’s years-long drive to become the offshore wind energy capital of South Carolina will begin next month, when Coastal Carolina University, the University of South Carolina and others begin the work to label areas in the Atlantic Ocean off South Carolina as good and not-so-good for the development of wind energy farms.

Paul Gayes, director of the Burroughs & Chapin Center for Marine and Wetland Studies at Coastal Carolina University, said Wednesday the study will use $750,000 from the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management with a match from the state to narrow down a broad swath of ocean to areas that can then be studied further by private companies that might build the farms.

The step after that will come early next year when Sen. Greg Hembree, R-North Myrtle Beach, reintroduces a bill that would allow utility companies that wanted to build a demonstration wind tower offshore to apply to the state’s Public Service Commission to raise rates to fund the project.

The bill was stopped in the last session when one senator objected to it, and Hembree said he has worked to change that vote in the upcoming session.

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