Dominion SC IRP “Doubles Down on Costly Fuels” Finds Sierra Club Analysis

April 2, 2026

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Renner Barsella, [email protected]

COLUMBIA, S.C.- Dominion Energy South Carolina (DESC)'s proposed 2026 IRP doubles down on volatile fracked-gas while continuing to cling to expensive coal power, asserts Sierra Club's analysis of the utility's filing, which was made publicly available in the docket on Wednesday.

"While South Carolina families feel the squeeze of energy costs like never before, Dominion's long-term planning looks like business as usual from decades ago," said Sierra Club's Senior Campaign Organizer for the Carolinas, Paul Black."Even the most ambitious scenarios mapped kick the can down the road for retiring coal, and make massive investments in unpredictable gas markets-like the proposed Canadys gas plant-and the scenarios tend to delay affordable clean energy and storage well into the 2040s."

The preferred portfolio laid out by DESC, named the "2026 Reference Build Plan," lists retirement years for the utility's Wateree and Williams coal-fired power plants as 2032 and 2034, respectively. The utility says it will need the Canadys gas plant to be constructed before it can retire Williams, but falls short of actually committing to retiring either coal plant if Canadys is built.

Another portfolio modeled in the IRP, titled "Optimized Retirements," projects 2033 as the Wateree retirement date and 2047 as Williams' retirement. Even worse, the "High Load Build Plan" considers a scenario of high load, pushing those retirement dates all the way to 2045 and 2047. There are no statements in any plans about retirement of the Cope coal-fired power plant. It is still listed with a retirement date of 2071, when today's kindergartners will be in their 50s. Experts also say DESC's vague statements about coal retirement come with potentially high costs, beyond just fuel and operation.

"Dominion claims to already be in compliance with 2020 rules that restrict pollution from coal plants, but has not thoroughly evaluated the latest updates to those rules, which impose stricter limits," said Sari Amiel, staff attorney with Sierra Club's Environmental Law Program."However, the upgrades Dominion would have to make to ensure its coal plants meet the latest standards are likely very costly, and their price tag will get passed to customers."

All of DESC's core build plans, including the 2026 Reference Build Plan, do recommend significant new investment in solar generation, and all plans add 62%-83% of renewable generation within the forecast period, with at least 56% of that coming from solar. The preferred portfolio includes 2,400 MW of solar in total-equivalent to about 2 million households' energy needs-in addition to 600 MW of solar-and-storage, and 300 MW of standalone storage. Strangely, the plan does not bring any of that solar generation online until 2042-over 15 years from now.

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.

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