It’s Monday, and that’s when we like to take a look at current business issues that are trending across our state and discuss them with one of our fellow news media friends. This week, Mike Switzer interviews Jessica Holdman, a reporter with the South Carolina Daily Gazette in Columbia, SC. Jessica tells us about a $260 million, 217 jobs announcement for a woodmilling company going into an old textile plant in the Upstate and a $400 million, 100+ jobs deal for an electric cable manufacturer coming to Orangeburg. She also shares information about Duke Energy receiving some federal grant money for power grid upgrades.
TRANSCRIPT:
Switzer: Hello and welcome to the South Carolina Business Review. This, is Mike Switzer. It's Monday and that's when we like to take a look at current business issues that are trending across our state and discuss them with one of our fellow news media friends. This week we have Jessica Holdman, a reporter with the South Carolina Daily Gazette, a non profit news agency. And she joins us by phone now from her office in Columbia. Jessica, welcome back to the program.
Holdman: Thanks, Mike.
Switzer: So tell us what's showing up on your radar this week.
Holdman: Well, we've got a couple pretty large economic development deals that are coming to maybe some more rural parts of the state. So some, some wins for some of our smaller towns. The most recent being a $260 million investment by a company that makes wood paneling, crown molding, shiplap, other kind of home construction materials. They are coming to the area between Belton and Honea Path. They're going to bring 217 jobs and they're moving into a shuttered textile manufacturing plant. Now we're going to see this new company, Adeptus, coming in. They're paying good wages and Anderson county really sees it as a win.
Switzer: And I'm just going to assume they're probably getting a tax credit for taking over an old textile mill.
Holdman: They sure are. It's not necessarily a textile mill, so it doesn't necessarily fall into that level of the state tax credits, but they are getting some financial aid from the state, first being a $850,000 grant to help cover the cost of renovating the building. There's also credits associated with the jobs they're creating. And Anderson county is offering them reduced taxes over 40 years, taking them down to that 4% rate that's traditionally reserved for homeowners in the state.
Switzer: All right, now you mentioned two deals. What's the next one?
Holdman: Yeah, so the other company we're seeing is coming into the Orangeburg area. Okonite Company announced that they're going to be investing 400 million in a new manufacturing plant there. That company makes high voltage electrical cable, largely for utilities, solar, rail. They are planning to hire more than 100 people. As we've seen electrical companies needing to upgrade, their grids to keep up with higher power demand. Data centers being part of that. The demand for these materials has gone up. Average wages are going to be $33 per hour above the state average. So good, news for Orangeburg county as well.
Switzer: Yeah, absolutely. We, we always love to hear about these kinds of deals, especially with good wages involved. So what else do you see.
Holdman: Well, Mike, since we were talking about power lines and the need by utilities to upgrade the grid, we also saw announcements from the US Department of Energy. Nationally. They are getting ready to pump $2 billion into electric grid improvements across 26 states. And that includes right here in South Carolina. Duke Energy is set to get a share of these grants. They are going to be getting $50 million, matching that with 151 million of their own investment to upgrade the grid around the Greenville Spartanburg area as well as across the border in North Carolina. Duke has said the funding will kind of offset a portion of the costs, reducing the amount that they would otherwise have to charge to customers on their monthly bills. While that won't necessarily translate to lower power bills, Duke says they are going to be able to make these investments maybe sooner than they had expected.
Switzer: And so what are we talking about when we're saying upgrading the power grid?
Holdman: Sure. So it's really a way to boost the amount of power that can travel through the power lines. That includes upgrades to transformers, that includes upgrades to the wires themselves. Just being able to handle more electricity as demand grows. So really getting a little more bang for their buck on infrastructure that's already out there.
Switzer: Well, Jessica, as always, thank you so much for spending time with us today.
Holdman: Thanks, Mike.
Switzer: Jessica Holdman is a reporter with the South Carolina Daily Gazette, a nonprofit news source here in our state. And we will have a link to that source posted at our webpage so you can learn more SouthCarolinaPublicradio.org where you can hear this show again. You can hear us again wherever you find podcasts with the South Carolina Business Review. This is Mike Switzer.
The views expressed on the South Carolina Business Review do not necessarily reflect those of South Carolina Public Radio.
South Carolina Business Review transcripts are intended to accurately represent the original audio version of the program; however, some discrepancies or inaccuracies may exist. The audio format serves as the official record of South Carolina Business Review’s programming.
