Environmentalists, power companies come together to discuss solar energy

By Kevin Smetana
Morning News

Published: June 13, 2008

COWARD — Two groups often on opposite sides of environmental issues came together Friday during the first South Carolina Solar Council Meeting to be conducted in Florence County.

Representatives of Santee Cooper, Progress Energy and South Carolina electric cooperatives, as well as many environmentalists, were among the dozens who filled the Environmental Discovery Center at Lynches River County Park to discuss the use of solar power.

David Wach, a spokesman for Roche Carolina in Florence and an S.C. Solar Council board member, gave a presentation of a solar energy project taking place at the Roche plant in Florence.

Wach stressed the importance of the business professionals and environmentalists working together.

“There has to be a synergy like that,” he said.

The coming together of the two groups is rare, especially in Florence County, where Santee Cooper is planning to build a 600-megawatt coal-fired power facility. But both groups were presented with the benefits of using solar energy during Friday’s meeting.

“What we saw this afternoon is that there’s a great partnership to be formed between the conservation community and the business community,” John Ramsburgh, director of the South Carolina chapter of the Sierra Club, said. “(We also saw) that what’s good for the environment is also good for South Carolina’s economy.”

Peggy Brown, chairwoman of Florence County Citizens for Responsible Economic Development and a member of the League of Women Voters in Florence, said she would like to see the solar council also focus on using solar power in homes.

“I think we need to try to look at how we can bring this into our residential areas, too,” Brown said. “I think this is just a baby step into the future. For people to say that solar power isn’t something that will be utilized in South Carolina is inaccurate.”

Frank Powell, a professor at Furman University and an environmentalist, said that with the three legs of sustainability — social justice, environmental correctness and economic feasibility — coming together, businesses and environmentalists will benefit from working together at conserving energy.

“(Corporations that have) had the opportunity to pass along the increases in costs to those who buy their products now recognize that it makes good sense to look green,” Powell said. “Not only from a brand recognition, but because there is economic viability.”