Movement across the energy sector never stops -- even when power-plant construction does.

Lonnie Carter, the CEO of South Carolina’s state-owned utility, Santee Cooper, is stepping down after the company abandoned construction of a new nuclear power plant earlier this summer. Carter has been CEO for 13 years, nine of which involved expanding the nuclear facility.

Nearly 10 years and $9 billion later, the project has been scrapped -- putting ratepayers on the hook for an unfinished plant. As the utility searches for an interim replacement, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster is looking for potential buyers for Santee Cooper, according to The State.

After nearly 15 years of service, Howard Gruenspecht, acting administrator of the Energy Information Administration, is leaving the government agency. Before joining EIA, he had been in various policy roles at the U.S. Department of Energy. John Conti will be appointed deputy administrator and serve as acting administrator upon his departure, according to Axios. Former EIA Administrator Adam Sieminski told Axios that Gruenspecht was particularly key in getting EIA to adapt to the age of big data, such as pulling hourly generation stats.

Rocky Mountain Institute is bringing on Miranda Ballentine as its managing director, where she will lead RMI's Business Renewables Center, which helps commercial and industrial firms procure renewable energy. Ballentine was formerly the assistant secretary of energy for the U.S. Air Force under President Obama, and also served as the director of sustainability for Walmart stores.

Ryan O’Keefe is now head of Dong Energy’s new energy storage solutions business unit. He was previously SVP of business development at Ideal Power and also held roles at Younicos, NextEra and GE Capital. Earlier this year, Dong divested its oil and gas business to focus on renewables.

General Electric’s chief marketing officer for Power Services, Michael Donohue, left GE for a startup (no, not GE’s "startup," Current). Donohue is leading the energy solutions team for Chicago startup Uptake, which competes with GE’s Predix platform and is working with subsidiaries of Berkshire Hathaway to provide wind analytics, according to Reuters.

Cameron Bard joined Cypress Creek Renewables as a director after spending nearly a year at startup incubator 1776 as director of market development. Before fleeing to the West Coast, Bard was the chief of staff to New York’s energy czar Richard Kauffman during the launch of the state's Reforming the Energy Vision initiative, and he was previously at NYSERDA.

Now that NARUC’s former president, Robert Powelson, is moving to FERC, Connecticut regulator John Betkoski will become the new president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. Wisconsin PUC chair Ellen Nowak will move from second to first VP at the organization.

After more than three decades at Edison Electric Institute, David K. Owens has joined Xcel Energy’s board of directors. He will join more than a dozen other board members, including Daniel Yohannes, who was also added earlier this year.