CANISTOTA, S.D. – Construction work is proceeding at a rapid pace at the state's newest solar farm being built on 585 acres of former farmland south of this small eastern South Dakota town.
The story of how the Grant Solar LLC project being developed by Geronimo Power came to fruition provides a good representation of South Dakota's ongoing love-hate relationship to development of solar energy in the state.
On the one hand, the $165 million, 99-megawatt (MW) solar project just north of state Highway 42 was supported by the Board of Economic Development within the Governor's Office of Economic Development, which provided the project with $2.8 million in tax relief through the state Reinvestment Payment Program.
The solar farm that will be located on both sides of 446th Avenue is expected to generate $31 million in direct economic impact, $15 million in new tax revenues, $495,000 in local charitable giving and 150 construction jobs and three full-time permanent local positions over its first 20 years of operation, according to a Geronimo spokeswoman.
The project also proves the rising interest of power companies to tap into South Dakota's abundant resources of both sun and treeless open spaces.
Conversely, the project was opposed by some neighbors who feared negative impacts on the land, nearby property values and their rural lifestyle. It took two applications to the McCook County Commission and a lawsuit for the project to finally obtain local approval.
"Our approach has been to listen, be transparent and make reasonable adjustments where we can," Geronimo spokeswoman Emily Morissette wrote to News Watch in an email. "Geronimo Power is committed to being a good neighbor in McCook County and to developing a project that provides long-term local benefits while respecting the community where it is located."
Opposition arises to new solar projects
Development of any new solar energy projects in South Dakota will come in spite of opposition from President Donald Trump, who slowed or stopped many wind and solar energy projects and cut funding for sustainable energy programs across the country during his second term.
In 2023, former South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem decided against applying for part of a $7 billion program enacted by the Biden administration called "Solar for All" that provided grants to states to get proposed solar projects up and running. A Noem spokesperson at the time said the grants had too many strings attached and were part of wasteful spending by Biden.
Meanwhile, some local governments are putting up roadblocks to solar projects.
In late June, the Pennington County Commission voted 3-2 to give final approval to zoning changes that ban new utility-scale wind and solar projects on agricultural land within the county. Pennington County encompasses nearly 2,800 square miles, an area larger than the state of Delaware that includes vast stretches of open prairies.
The measure limits large solar and wind projects to areas zoned industrial and would also prohibit siting of battery storage units that sometimes accompany sustainable energy projects.
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County Commissioner Jerry Derr, who championed the siting restrictions, wrote on Facebook that, "I took the lead on this change because eastern Pennington County’s ag land is worth protecting."
He added: "This land supports our heritage, our economy, our open space, and our rural way of life. Large-scale industrial energy projects should be located in industrial areas, not in agricultural districts."
New solar projects but still lagging rest of US
South Dakota remains near the bottom of all states in terms of solar power production, ranking 48th with 270 MW of generation.
But some new projects have come online or are under construction, including the 128 MW Wild Springs solar farm operating south of New Underwood and a 5 MW solar field now under construction in Brookings County.
The website for Philadelphia-based energy company Doral LLC lists a project called Six Mile Solar, a 1,000 MW project the company intends to build in Brookings County. No application from Doral has been submitted to the state, however.
Some proposed solar projects do not survive regulatory scrutiny or neighbor opposition.
A $120 million solar farm proposed for 1,100 acres east of Sturgis in 2023 stalled due to a county property line dispute, and no progress had been made since then.
Michael Klinski
The request for a conditional use permit for the Canistota project was withdrawn by the developer after opposition from neighbors arose in 2023. But the company worked with neighbors and the county and eventually gained approval for the project after agreeing to multiple stipulations, including providing setback waivers for properties within a half mile, requiring natural plant screening and conducting a traffic study.
Two experts contacted by News Watch offered two very different interpretations of the potential future for solar energy power in the state and its often bumpy path to approval.
More solar projects possible
Rodger Horr, executive director of the South Dakota Renewable Energy Association, told News Watch that the state should expect to see a "tsunami" of industrial-sized solar projects in the coming years.
"South Dakota has very little solar, but it’s coming," Horr said.
His predication is based on a few basic facts about solar energy and the current electricity marketplace. First, he said, is the fact that solar arrays – and wind farms for that matter – are fairly quick to install, taking only about 18 months from approval to production.
Also, the need for electricity continues to rise sharply in the Great Plains to accommodate residential, commercial and industrial growth as well as possibly including data centers or other technologies yet to arrive.
"You could argue that there was no growth or demand for electricity for 100 years, and now the demand is going straight up," Horr said. "We're desperate and we need electricity."
Horr countered the argument by opponents that solar farms consume valuable farmland by noting that property owners make much more per acre from energy companies than from harvesting crops. He also pointed out that some agricultural land is not great for farming and can find a higher use.
"If you do solar, you’re using all that land, and those landowners make bank because solar farms generate 2 to 3 times what they can make growing crops," he said.
Bart Pfankuch
Horr said renewable energy companies are also good neighbors in the communities where they operate, providing an economic benefit but also helping pay for road improvements and supporting schools.
Renewable energy companies do all kinds of things for their communities," he said. "People say they don’t want wind turbines or solar panels. Well, what kind of energy do they like?”
A dimmer view of solar's future
Not everyone is as bullish on new solar energy production in South Dakota.
Chris Nelson, chairman of the state Public Utilities Commission, told News Watch that there are no solar projects currently seeking approval from the commission. By law, the PUC only reviews and approves energy projects that are 100 MW or greater.
Nelson said the rising opposition to solar projects at the local level could create a chilling effect for companies considering building solar farms in South Dakota.
"As projects get proposed, there appears to be growing local opposition to those projects,” he said. “It seems they don’t want their land covered in glass panels.”
Furthermore, he said generating more solar power may not be feasible due to a lack of space for new electricity in the grid that captures and moves energy. “We’ve got an energy congestion problem in northeastern South Dakota,” he said.
As previously reported by News Watch, however, two new major transmission lines are in the very early stages of consideration for both western and northeastern South Dakota, and energy storage systems are also being built to hold excess electricity until needed.
Nelson also noted that the solar resources in the state – namely the level of sunshine and sunny days per year – are higher in the western part of the state but still not comparable to sun exposure in Western states such as Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona.
“If we were to step back three or four years, I thought solar was on the edge of taking off, but we haven’t seen that,” he said.
South Dakota News Watch is an independent nonprofit. Read, donate and subscribe for free at sdnewswatch.org. Contact content director Bart Pfankuch: 605-937-9398/bart.pfankuch@sdnewswatch.org.
