South Carolina: data centers & your electric bill
As of October 1, 2026, AI GridWatch tracks 14 data center moratoriums or pushback actions in South Carolina: 9 in force, 5 proposed. The state has 40 tracked data center facilities using an estimated 0.6 TWh of electricity a year.
Everything GridWatch tracks in South Carolina on one page — proposed projects, moratoriums, permits, officials, and the 2026 ballot.
Subscribe by RSS — moratorium changes and community headlines for South Carolina.
As of July 2026 (3m ago) · changes over months · Source: U.S. Data Center Power Map by State — ElectricChoice.com compilation (updated July 2026; CC-BY 4.0). Underlying load research: LBNL 2024 US Data Center Energy Usage Report; rates: EIA
Facility counts vary by directory because each one draws the boundary differently — DataCenterMap lists 44 in Alabama where this table says 35, since it counts small network rooms alongside hyperscale campuses. Cite the TWh figure rather than the facility count when you can; it is the number that speaks to grid impact. Underlying load research is LBNL-2001637 (Dec 2024).
1Proposed data centers in South Carolina (3)
1 still live · 2 decided or withdrawn. Each name links to the full dossier — ownership, intelligence log, and where to read the paper trail.
| Project | Where | Size | Behind it | Stage | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project Spero | Spartanburg County | 450 MW | TigerDC / NorthMark Strategies | In review | Source read 2026-08-19 |
| Google Berkeley County | Berkeley County | — | Under construction | Source | |
| Meta Aiken | Trenton (Aiken County) | 142 MW | Meta | Under construction | Source read 2026-08-14 |
2Pushback already happening in South Carolina
| Where | Level | Status | Note | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newberry County | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-07-16 | 12-month moratorium on accepting new data-center permits, confirmed unanimously after the council unanimously denied the 'Project Altair' land-sale ordinance in June. Staff directed to research appropriate locations for future data-center development. | SourceNews read 2026-08-12 |
| Colleton County | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-01-07 | 6-month moratorium on special exceptions, conditional-use approvals, and other land-use/development approvals for data centers (Ordinance 26-O-04), adopted unanimously. Planning Commission separately approved a 'digital infrastructure overlay district' text amendment. | SourceRoundup read 2026-08-12 |
| Spartanburg County | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-06-22 | 1-year moratorium (extendable by council vote), no dissent on first reading. Pending ordinance doctrine invoked to halt applications immediately. Exempts previously approved Kohler Plant site project | SourceRoundup read 2026-08-13 |
| York County | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-04-13 | 9-month moratorium in unincorporated areas, final reading. Does NOT affect QTS project near Lake Wylie (vested rights). Studies: rate-making, generators, geothermal/heat, noise | SourceRoundup read 2026-08-13 |
| Anderson County | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-02-20 | 6-month pause passed on third and final reading; ordinance cites the county's lack of a zoning framework to manage the industry's scale and funds an independent study. Reporting did not state the ordinance's effective date, so the end date here is six months from the final reading | SourceNews read 2026-08-23 |
| Mount Pleasant | Local | Proposedterm not documented | Planning Commission recommended 120-day moratorium on data center applications (Aug 31, 2026); full Town Council vote pending. Proactive — no current proposals. | SourceNews read 2026-09-06 |
| Chester County | County | Enactedexpires 2027-01-21 | 6-month countywide pause on data center applications. Workshops planned Aug 13 and Sep 28. 8-10 data center inquiries received. | SourceNews read 2026-09-06 |
| Greenwood County | County | Enactedexpires 2027-07-21 | 1-year moratorium blocking new data center approvals. Voted 4-3. Followed denial of text amendment allowing data centers as conditional use. | SourceNews read 2026-09-06 |
| Kershaw County | County | Proposedterm not documented | County Council voted unanimously for first reading of an ordinance placing a 12-month moratorium on data center construction, following concerns that a proposed 500 MW Bethune Energy gas plant could be a precursor to a data center. Second reading required for enactment. | SourceNews read 2026-09-06 |
| Orangeburg County | County | Enactedexpires 2027-07-23 | County Council enacted one-year moratorium on data center construction after three readings; first reading unanimously passed at special-called meeting Jul 23. | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Chesterfield County | County | Enactedexpires 2028-01-01 | Ordinance 25-26-23 imposing moratorium on data centers, data processing, and crypto mining in unincorporated areas until Jan 1, 2028. | SourceRoundup read 2026-09-11 |
| Laurens County | County | Proposedterm not documented | First reading passed unanimously for one-year moratorium on data center projects; final reading required. | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Fairfield County | County | Proposedfixed term, end date not recorded | 12-month moratorium; public hearing held Aug 31 ahead of third reading. Not yet formally enacted. | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Jasper County | County | Proposedterm not documented | First reading passed for one-year moratorium on data centers, crypto mining, and data processing in unincorporated areas; two more readings required. | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
As of August 2026 (2m ago) · changes weekly — re-check before citing
Illustrative rather than exhaustive — dozens of localities churn weekly, and this tracks the ones we have read a source for. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to the ordinance, the enacting body's own page, or a datable report of the vote, and were read on that date. Rows marked *unverified* came from bulk compilation and have not been checked against a primary source — the locality, the year, and the status may all be off. Verify one of those with the town clerk before citing it as precedent. **Expiry is derived, not asserted.** A row with a documented end date flips to *Expired* on its own once that date passes. A time-limited moratorium whose start date was never documented keeps showing as enacted — that is a known gap, not a claim that it is still in force. Moratoriums are also routinely extended, so an expiry date is the earliest it could have ended, not proof that it did.
3Known data center campuses in South Carolina
| Operator | Location | Tenant | Filing LLC |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Lowcountry (Berkeley Co.) | Land-acquisition shells: Jet Stream LLC, Sharka LLC | ||
| Meta | Aiken | Meta | Codename shells: Greater Kudu, Raven Northbrook, Stadion, Wobniar, Pinnacle Mountain |
⏳ No verification date recorded · changes over months · Source: Operator ownership & filing-LLC naming patterns — compiled from operator releases and county filings, then checked against SEC EDGAR full-text search. Composite, not a single citation: look the entity up yourself before naming it in a filing
Each row carries its own attribution level — first-party rows come from the operator's own site, but colocation and REIT ownership was compiled from trade press and never passed an independent fact-check. Check the attribution column before citing a row.
4Every data center already built in South Carolina
The campuses above are the ones GridWatch tracks by operator and filing LLC. For the full inventory — street addresses of every existing facility, including the smaller colocation and network sites — DataCenterMap keeps a public directory for South Carolina.
Browse the South Carolina directory →
Two caveats before you cite it at a hearing: it lists facilities that already exist, so a newly proposed campus will not appear; and it counts a small network room the same as a hyperscale campus, so the facility count is not a measure of power draw or community impact.
5Your regulator
Public Service Commission of South Carolina — website · file a complaint
Official state energy data: EIA South Carolina electricity profile — generation, prices, and consumption from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
6Where the South Carolina paper trail lives
Air & environmental permits: South Carolina DES — Bureau of Air Quality
No searchable register. South Carolina does not publish a permit database you can query. A public-records request to the agency is the only route to the file.
No organised market. There is no interconnection queue to read here; the utility's own resource plan and the PUC docket are the record.
These are places to look, not evidence that anything has been filed. Links were checked on 2026-08-21; search links are queries, not records.
7Your federal delegation and governor
Grades cross party — this is an issue axis, not a partisan one. A blank grade means no documented action was located, never that the official is neutral.
| Grade | Official | Documented action (sourced) | Reach them |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | Henry McMaster Republican · Governor | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Darline Graham Republican · Senator | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Tim Scott Republican · Senator · next on the ballot 2028 | No documented action on data centers located Mixed In a July 2026 op-ed welcomed Google's Lowcountry data centers while insisting families and small businesses should not pay higher electric bills for them, praising the Ratepayer Protection Pledge. sources | site · contact |
| — | Nancy Mace Republican · Representative 1 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Joe Wilson Republican · Representative 2 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Sheri Biggs Republican · Representative 3 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | William R. Timmons IV Republican · Representative 4 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Ralph Norman Republican · Representative 5 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | James E. Clyburn Democratic · Representative 6 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Russell Fry Republican · Representative 7 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
Roster: regenerated by scripts/refresh_officials.py (Senate XML + congress-legislators + current governors).
Write to your senators → Your senators in detail → Full officials scorecard → Find your state legislators →
82026 U.S. Senate race
PVI R+8 · Seat held by Darline Graham (Republican) · Interim appointee nominated in runoff
Annie Andrews (Democratic) No record found
No documented statement or action on data centers located. Not scored — see how this page treats silence.
Recent mentions (3) — automated, not verified
Headlines that name this candidate and mention data centers or AI. Matched by a script, read by nobody. A mention is a lead, not a record — do not cite one as a position.
Darline Graham (Republican) · incumbent No record found
No documented statement or action on data centers located. Not scored — see how this page treats silence.
Catherine Fleming Bruce (Democratic, ''write-in'') No record found
No documented statement or action on data centers located. Not scored — see how this page treats silence.
Kasie Whitener (Libertarian) No record found
No documented statement or action on data centers located. Not scored — see how this page treats silence.
Mark Hackett (Constitution) No record found
No documented statement or action on data centers located. Not scored — see how this page treats silence.
Ballot roster: state candidate list (read 2026-08-25).
92026 U.S. House races in South Carolina (7)
A documented data-center record exists in 5 of 7 districts. A candidate with no badge colour has said nothing we could locate — that is a gap in the record, not a neutral position. ★ marks an incumbent.
| District | PVI | Incumbent | Candidates |
|---|---|---|---|
| SC-1 | R+6 | Nancy Mace | Jenny Costa Honeycutt Nancy Lacore Bill Reeside Margo Ellis |
| SC-2 | R+7 | Joe Wilson | Joe Wilson ★ Zyon Khalifa Dayna Alane Smith |
| SC-3 | R+21 | Sheri Biggs | Sheri Biggs ★ Eunice Lehmacher Brian Corriea |
| SC-4 | R+11 | William Timmons | William Timmons ★ Courtney McClain Jessica Ethridge |
| SC-5 | R+11 | Ralph Norman | Mallory Dittmer Wes Climer Andy Kaplan |
| SC-6 | D+13 | Jim Clyburn | Jim Clyburn ★ John Peterson Joseph Oddo |
| SC-7 | R+12 | Russell Fry | Russell Fry ★ John Vincent |
The documented records (5 districts)
SC-2
Joe Wilson (Republican) · incumbent Consensus vote only
On the record only for voting yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act (417-3). No other data-center record located yet.
- Voted yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed 417-3 (roll call 312). It directs state utility commissions to consider rate designs making data centers with 100 MW or more of peak demand at one site pay the full incremental cost of the generation and grid upgrades they require. A near-unanimous vote: shown on the record, not scored on its own. (2026-09-16 — source)
Record read 2026-09-22.
SC-3
Sheri Biggs (Republican) · incumbent Consensus vote only
On the record only for voting yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act (417-3). No other data-center record located yet.
- Voted yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed 417-3 (roll call 312). It directs state utility commissions to consider rate designs making data centers with 100 MW or more of peak demand at one site pay the full incremental cost of the generation and grid upgrades they require. A near-unanimous vote: shown on the record, not scored on its own. (2026-09-16 — source)
Record read 2026-09-22.
SC-4
William Timmons (Republican) · incumbent Consensus vote only
On the record only for voting yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act (417-3). No other data-center record located yet.
- Voted yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed 417-3 (roll call 312). It directs state utility commissions to consider rate designs making data centers with 100 MW or more of peak demand at one site pay the full incremental cost of the generation and grid upgrades they require. A near-unanimous vote: shown on the record, not scored on its own. (2026-09-16 — source)
Record read 2026-09-22.
SC-6
Jim Clyburn (Democratic) · incumbent Consensus vote only
On the record only for voting yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act (417-3). No other data-center record located yet.
- Voted yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed 417-3 (roll call 312). It directs state utility commissions to consider rate designs making data centers with 100 MW or more of peak demand at one site pay the full incremental cost of the generation and grid upgrades they require. A near-unanimous vote: shown on the record, not scored on its own. (2026-09-16 — source)
Record read 2026-09-22.
SC-7
Russell Fry (Republican) · incumbent Consensus vote only
On the record only for voting yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act (417-3). No other data-center record located yet.
- Voted yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed 417-3 (roll call 312). It directs state utility commissions to consider rate designs making data centers with 100 MW or more of peak demand at one site pay the full incremental cost of the generation and grid upgrades they require. A near-unanimous vote: shown on the record, not scored on its own. (2026-09-16 — source)
Record read 2026-09-22.
10Latest South Carolina data center news
No South Carolina data-center headlines in this week's national scan — local coverage often runs ahead of it.
Search live South Carolina data center news → GridWatch news feed →
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State municipal league: Municipal Association of South Carolina