A partially constructed and abandoned nuclear project in South Carolina could have a future, after all.

The state-owned utility Santee Cooper has launched a process seeking proposals to acquire and complete, or propose alternatives, for two partially constructed nuclear generating units at the V.C. Summer Station in Jenkinsville, South Carolina. The utility has no plans to own the units.

Factors contributing to the utility’s decision to launch an RFP process include a need for new generating capacity, driven by rapid growth of data centers, the onshoring of manufacturing and the retirement of fossil-fired plants. Santee Cooper also cited significant interest in repowering closed or canceled nuclear units to shorten project timelines, as well as federal incentives for these projects.

“Considering the long timelines required to bring new nuclear units online, Santee Cooper has a unique opportunity to explore options for Summer Units 2 and 3 and their related assets that could allow someone to generate reliable, carbon emissions-free electricity on a meaningfully shortened timeline,” said utility president and CEO Jimmy Staton.

This could be the first abandoned nuclear construction project to be finished in response to the need for more clean, firm electrons on the grid. Holtec International plans to revive the previously retired 800 MW Palisades plant in Michigan. Constellation’s Three Mile Island Unit 1 in Pennsylvania could also be returned to life following a PPA signed with Microsoft.

Santee Cooper also touted V.C. Summer’s “unique position” as the only site in the U.S. that could deliver 2,200 MW of nuclear capacity “on an accelerated timeline.” The utility notes that Unit 2 “was significantly progressed” when the project was canceled, another possible incentive for a buyer. There is also room for more possible units at the site.

Santee Cooper and South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. (SCE&G) spent more than $9 billion before abandoning construction on the reactors at V.C. Summer in 2017. The utility partners concluded that completing the two units would be “prohibitively expensive.” The decision to abandon came after the bankruptcy filing of Westinghouse Electric, the project’s contractor. At the time, Westinghouse said it had over $6 billion in debt.

Majority owner SCE&G (now Dominion Energy South Carolina) transferred its interest in the assets to Santee Cooper in 2018. A total of four utility executives were charged and sentenced in connection with the failed project.

Santee Cooper has engaged Centerview Partners LLC to conduct the RFP, seeking parties interested in acquiring the project and related assets, and potentially completing one or both units or pursuing alternative uses of the assets. Responses to the RFP are due on May 5, 2025.