COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina is trying to sell itself as more than a place to build things, pitching new energy research sites to companies that might bring their factories and jobs to the state.
The push runs through SC Nexus for Advanced Resilient Energy, a partnership of the state Department of Commerce, state colleges including Clemson University and the University of South Carolina, and the Savannah River National Laboratory. The federal Economic Development Administration named it one of 31 national tech hubs in 2023, and it was one of just 12 that went on to win implementation money, a $45 million award announced in 2024.
Most of that money is going into three testing sites that open in stages next year. Clemson’s grid research center at the former Navy base in North Charleston, which received $12.5 million, is set to expand from 15 megawatts of test capacity to 35 megawatts in early spring. By July, a cyber range at the national lab near Aiken will let companies test grid equipment against hacking, and a battery manufacturing pilot line at USC in Columbia will be running. Those two projects drew roughly $10 million each.
State officials say the goal is to give companies a place to prove out new energy technology before taking it to market, and then to keep those companies here. The early returns are real: upward of 25 energy companies have picked South Carolina for new operations since 2024, promising a combined $3.5 billion and over 4,000 jobs. One of them, battery maker EnerSys, plans a $500 million lithium-ion plant in Greenville with 500 workers and intends to use the USC test line for research.
The money also reaches classrooms. The state has awarded 230 scholarships worth $2,000 to $5,000 to technical college students training as utility linemen, starting with rural schools, and plans a mobile career bus with virtual reality gear for K-12 students by next school year.
Clemson and UNC Charlotte have also teamed up on a National Science Foundation power grid grant that could total as much as $160 million over 10 years. The two schools have received $15 million so far.
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