(A) Within six months from the date of the enactment of this chapter, the commission shall open a docket to establish a competitive procurement program for each electrical utility for energy storage facilities to be located in South Carolina. Solicitations shall be subject to the following limitations:
(1) For transmission-connected energy storage (excluding pumped hydro) the electrical utilities shall conduct a competitive procurement for such resources, including utility-self developed projects. Each electrical utility shall file the proposed details of its competitive procurement process no later than twelve months after the date of the enactment of this chapter.
(2) The target procurement volume for stand-alone storage acquisition may not exceed the portion of stand-alone storage in the most recent commission approved integrated resource plan or integrated resource plan annual update that is equal to the portion of the respective electrical utility's peak load attributable to South Carolina customers.
(3) Stand-alone energy storage facilities with a design capacity less than or equal to twenty megawatts and intended primarily to address local reliability improvements or local capacity constraints are not subject to the competitive procurement requirements of this section.
(4)(a) The procurement of stand-alone energy storage facilities shall result in a reasonable balance of the electrical utility and independent third-party ownership of eligible facilities, as determined by the commission.
(b) An electrical utility and its affiliates may offer proposals into the competitive procurement provided that appropriate safeguards are in place to ensure that such proposals do not receive any advantage in the bid evaluation process. Electrical utility costs associated with facilities owned by an independent third-party power producer shall be capitalized and included within the electrical utility's rate base for ratemaking purposes.
(B) Competitively procured stand-alone storage shall be subject to operational protocols, equipment specifications, and inspections established by the electric utility and which are necessary to ensure the reliability of the electrical utility system. Information regarding competitively procured stand-alone storage must be provided to the Office of Regulatory Staff.
(C) Electrical utilities may recover costs incurred through such competitive procurement through rates established pursuant to Section 58-27-870.