Graded Light and tightening. 22 laws, orders, rulings and local actions, each with its source, reviewed 23 October 2026.
Duke and Dominion told senators in March 2026 that large loads pay for studies and post deposits up to $130 million; the PSC freed on-site power August 2026.
Santee Cooper's 50 MW rate (April 25, 2025) requires a 15-year contract, and Duke and Dominion contracts of about 15 years carry exit penalties and deposits.
Eight county moratoria adopted July to September 2026, including Spartanburg's on September 21, 2026, cover the Upstate but not Columbia or Charleston.
The sales tax exemption on equipment and electricity is intact; the Senate rejected a one-year suspension in April 2026.
No statewide water, air or disclosure rule is in force; the Energy Security Act dropped water disclosure before passage in June 2025.
Scored on rules in force, 1 to 5. 5 is the most regulated. Pending rules set the arrow.
South Carolina kept its data center sales tax exemptions through 2026 and the legislature ended its two-year session without passing a siting and cost bill. The action moved to counties: Spartanburg, Laurens, Anderson, Chester, Colleton, Chesterfield, Newberry and Greenwood adopted moratoria between July and September 2026, and Colleton has since replaced part of its pause with an overlay district that sets rules for large campuses and settled a lawsuit in October 2026 by creating a Data Center Exclusion Area over most of the ACE Basin. The Public Service Commission opened a generic docket on loads of 50 MW or more and ruled in August 2026 that a Spartanburg data center generating its own gas power is not covered by the power plant siting law. Santee Cooper has had a 50 MW large-load rate since April 2025, while Duke and Dominion still rely on individual contracts.
A new two-year legislative session opens in January 2027 so the Data Center Development Act would have to be refiled; senators said they ran out of time in 2026. The generic large-load docket (2026-138-E) is taking comments on minimum contracts, collateral and flexible connection. The Valara project in Spartanburg County faces two live challenges after a judge dismissed the citizens' zoning suit on 6 October 2026: SELC's early October request that the PSC reconsider its siting ruling, on which the commission had 30 days to decide, and a 16 October contested case at the Administrative Law Court against the project's air permit. Orangeburg County's one-year moratorium had passed first reading in July and its final adoption is unconfirmed. The six-month county pauses in Chester and Anderson expire around early 2027, the one-year pauses in Laurens, Spartanburg and Greenwood run to mid or late 2027, and Colleton's overlay shows how counties may swap moratoria for permanent siting rules.
No statewide moratorium, but 7 local pauses are in force as of 23 October 2026, in Anderson County, Chester County, Chesterfield, Newberry and Greenwood counties, Colleton County, Greenwood County, Laurens County and elsewhere. Proposals and expired pauses are not counted.
Tightening. South Carolina is graded Light, which means incentives in place and few new obligations. No state law yet; county moratoria spread and regulators study large loads. The outlook above says what is pending.
South Carolina sits in Southeast utilities. The grid operator decides how a new large load is studied, what it must bring or pay, and whether it can be curtailed first; the state decides siting, permits, tariffs and incentives.
No. South Carolina's data center incentives were not pulled back in 2025 or 2026 as of 23 October 2026.
On Genloop's five-line rubric (1 least regulated, 5 most) South Carolina scores grid connection 3, power rates 3, siting and land use 3, tax treatment 1, permits and water 1, a mean of 2.2. The most regulated line is siting and land use: Eight county moratoria adopted July to September 2026, including Spartanburg's on September 21, 2026, cover the Upstate but not Columbia or Charleston.
22 items: each is a law, order, tariff, ruling, utility action or local decision that changes what a data center must do, pay or disclose, or where it may be built. Failed and pending measures are marked. Each links to its source.
On 6 October 2026 Judge J. Derham Cole Jr. dismissed Concerned Citizens of Spartanburg County's suit arguing the county should have reviewed the $2.8 billion Valara project as a major development. He found the plaintiffs had not shown special damage and should first have appealed to the Board of Zoning Appeals; the ruling also ends their request to pause construction. A second Valara permit application for four buildings, a power yard and cooling systems is still pending at the county.
Source: wrdw.comSELC's suit against Colleton County over the rezoning that allowed data centers near the ACE Basin settled in October 2026. The agreement creates a Data Center Exclusion Area covering most of the basin in the county, including the roughly 850-acre Ashepoo River headwaters parcel where Eagle Rock Partners proposed a $6 billion complex in December 2025. Eagle Rock would have to reapply for a special exception and had not done so.
Source: selc.orgOn behalf of Concerned Citizens of Spartanburg County and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, SELC asked the Public Service Commission in early October 2026 to reconsider its August finding that it lacks jurisdiction over Valara's 450 MW-plus private gas plant under the Utility Facility Siting and Environmental Protection Act, which otherwise covers plants above 75 MW. The commission had 30 days to decide.
Source: sclawyersweekly.comThe Department of Environmental Services issued an air permit for the gas turbines at the Valara data center. On 16 October 2026 SELC filed a request for a contested case hearing at the Administrative Law Court for Concerned Citizens of Spartanburg County and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, arguing the public was not given notice and comment on new data used for the final permit and that formaldehyde emissions were underestimated. It asks that the permit be remanded and turbine construction halted.
Source: selc.orgCouncil voted 5-1 on 21 September 2026. The pause covers facilities larger than 65 MW; smaller ones may proceed only in industrial parks or former industrial sites and may not generate their own power except for backup. The approved Valara project is not affected.
Source: live5news.comCouncil voted 6-0 on third and final reading on 14 September 2026 to pause data centers for one year in unincorporated areas while it writes rules. The cities of Laurens and Clinton keep their own control. Anderson County council has also given final reading to a six-month moratorium.
Source: foxcarolina.comCouncil unanimously approved a Digital Infrastructure Overlay District on 14 September 2026. It requires at least 300 acres, 200-foot buffers, a 65-decibel noise cap and closed-loop or air cooling. The July moratorium no longer applies west of Interstate 95 or to land already zoned Light Industrial, Industrial or Heavy Industrial as of the ordinance's effective date.
Source: live5news.comOn 27 August 2026 the Public Service Commission ruled unanimously, with one recusal, that the Valara computing center, which seeks about 450 MW of on-site gas generation, is not subject to power plant siting rules because it will not export power to the grid. A separate lawsuit filed on 6 July 2026 in Spartanburg County challenges the county's treatment of the project as a minor development.
Source: newsfromthestates.comCounty Council passed third and final reading of a six-month data center moratorium in the week of 18 August 2026, citing the lack of a regulatory framework or zoning structure for the industry and the need for an independent study.
Source: foxcarolina.comCouncil unanimously approved a six-month pause on data center land-use approvals in early July 2026 while it reviewed zoning. A lawsuit over the rezoning for a campus of more than 850 acres near the ACE Basin was put on hold for the period. In September 2026 the county partly repealed the pause when it adopted a data center overlay district; it still applies outside the overlay area.
Source: live5news.comChesterfield and Newberry counties enacted data center moratoria by early July 2026, Newberry after voting down a sale of county industrial park land to a developer. Greenwood County Council then approved a one-year moratorium on third and final reading by a 4-3 vote on 21 July 2026.
Source: foxcarolina.comChester County Council unanimously approved a six-month countywide pause on accepting, processing and approving data center applications on 20 July 2026, and directed staff to prepare data center development standards.
Source: wbtv.comCounty Council approved a one-year moratorium on new data center approvals on third and final reading by a 4-3 vote on 21 July 2026, after 24 residents signed up to speak. Council members said three companies had approached the county with offers of $30 million to $40 million a year.
Source: foxcarolina.comCounty Council unanimously passed first reading of a one-year moratorium on new data center rezonings and approvals at a special meeting on 23 July 2026 after learning of a proposed site near downtown Orangeburg. Second reading was on the 3 August 2026 agenda; final adoption was not confirmed in the sources checked.
Source: wrdw.comA settlement filed on 8 May 2026 cut Dominion's requested revenue increase from $322 million to $207 million and committed the utility to join the generic docket on loads of 50 MW or more. The Public Service Commission voted to approve the settlement on 11 June 2026, with a written order to follow.
Source: aarp.orgOpened on a Duke petition required by its 2025 rate case settlements, with a schedule set by Order 2026-362 on 17 June 2026. It takes comments on new loads of 50 MW or more: minimum contract terms, collateral, exit fees, interconnection costs, flexible connection and clean transition tariffs.
Source: psc.sc.govWould have created a state siting permit with tiers at 10 and 50 MW, PSC-approved cost allocation and financial assurance, water and noise limits, and an express right to self-generate. It was reported favorably by a Senate committee on 28 April 2026 but got no floor vote before the session ended.
Source: scstatehouse.govThe Senate rejected a budget amendment in April 2026 to suspend the data center sales tax exemption for one year. The exemption covers computer equipment and electricity and cost the state $828,000 in the year to June 2025.
Source: scdailygazette.comUtilities told senators in March 2026 that large users pay for studies, sign contracts of about 15 years with exit penalties and post deposits ($20 million to $130 million at Duke). Dominion had nine speculative data center proposals in its pipeline and Duke said its Carolinas backlog fell from more than 100 to fewer than five.
Source: scdailygazette.comFiled in March 2026 to bar state and local final approvals, permits and incentives for data centers until 2028. It was referred to House Ways and Means and no further action was found before the session ended.
Source: wrdw.comSigned in 2025 with a ceremonial signing on 18 June. It sets a six-month deadline for state energy permit decisions through 2035, allows negotiated rates for large employers and authorizes the Santee Cooper and Dominion gas plant at Canadys. Provisions making data centers pay for new plants and disclose water use were dropped before passage.
Source: governor.sc.govApproved by the board on 25 April 2025 and effective immediately. Customers of 50 MW or more sign a 15-year contract, ramp to full contracted use within three years and can be charged more in high-demand periods. The rate is experimental for four years.
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