The South Carolina Coastal Conservation League and the Strom Thurmond Institute at Clemson University collaborated on an economic impact study on behalf of the South Carolina Energy Office that was intended to assess the economic impact of a demonstration scale offshore wind farm on the state of South Carolina. Analysts incorporated the REMI model to estimate the current and potential economic impact on South Carolina from the construction and operation of a 40MW offshore wind farm before evaluating the offshore wind farm’s net impact on electric rates. The economic and fiscal impacts on the state were measured in terms of employment, total compensation, output, net state or local government revenue, direct effects, indirect effects, and induced effects. This report, combined with the first phase that was completed in 2012, discovered that the installation and operation of an offshore wind farm in South Carolina’s waters would result in positive economic impacts for the state overall.
