South Dakota index · last changed 14 September 2026
Selected source-linked records are published below. This is not a complete inventory of South Dakota data centers.
Explore South Dakota
Start with 7 licensed source leads, then inspect the separate public-evidence layer below. Licensed rows are not independently verified and are not a statewide census.
South Dakota map
7 licensed rows · 5 source localities · 4 map targets
The state outline is adapted from the U.S. Census Bureau 2025 cartographic boundary file. Facility coordinates are adapted from Compute Atlas by Edward Kubiak, edition 1.34.1, under CC BY 4.0. Outline and markers use one geographic projection before any explicitly disclosed readability offset. Exact singleton source anchors are never moved. A one-kilometre boundary tolerance prevents the simplified 1:20,000,000 outline from hiding legitimate border-area source points; farther conflicts are disclosed, not clamped. DataCenterData groups source-reported city coordinates only within a bounded map radius; the outline does not validate a facility record. Some locations in this layer are reported by the provider as derived from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL, https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright) and Epoch AI (CC BY 4.0).
Browse all 7 rows below. Licensed rows are not independently verified and remain separate from the checked public-evidence layer.
Separate layer
Sites that operators list on their own websites and that are not rows in the licensed directory above. They are kept apart and never added to the licensed rows.
6 operator-listed sites (mixed units; not added to licensed rows) in South Dakota →
5 of these sites have no supported coordinate. The map does not invent a pin or a metro placement for them.
South Dakota evidence at a glance
Selected public evidence, not a statewide census. Each row shows whether it is independently source-linked, attributed, or unresolved; licensed leads remain separate.
GOED project announcements and incentive records were not searched.
Browse all 7 South Dakota licensed leads → · Why these counts differ →
1 project record. Names are as they appear on each record page.
| Record / roles | Status | Capacity / scale | Primary evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini Addition | approvedproject · municipal rezoning and preliminary-subdivision approval only | UnknownNo independently supported figureThe reopened municipal records publish no critical-IT, gross-facility, utility-request, utility-service, generation, or measured-load MW. The reported 500 MW developer figure is excluded. | Sioux Falls Planning Commission — Gemini Addition preliminary subdivision staff report →Gov. record |
Statewide audit pending
A few checked sites
This is not a list of every data center in the state, and the number here is not a count of them. There are almost certainly more.
Statewide coverage is not complete. The records below are sourced; a full statewide count has not been published.
State research audit window ended 11 September 2026. Individual records and claims below show their own evidence dates and may be newer.
Next scheduled coverage review: 13 March 2027.
1 independently source-linked project/campus record; 0 independently source-linked facility/building records; 0 attributed or unresolved rows. These counts use different units and must not be added together.
These notes name selected records, say which kinds of public evidence were checked and show what remains missing. They do not add anything to the published counts.
Selected records
Selected records
Selected records
Selected records
Selected records
Selected records
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Selected records
Selected records
Licensed and operator listings, reviewed records, answers and local policy for each place. Listings overlap and are not added; a place without a line here has no published local evidence.
No local evidence answer, reviewed record or local policy record is published for Leola, Rapid City, Toronto, Yankton. Their listings above are source listings to investigate. No statewide evidence answer is published for South Dakota either; statewide and utility-territory rules are under Policy tracker below.
Policy tracker
15 sourced records are associated with this state context. They are grouped below as current, pending and nonbinding, and history, and each card shows its relevant date. These are not facility counts and do not cover every locality.
Recorded as in effect on the dataset date. This does not mean every project in a represented state is restricted or approved.
Enacted legislation or regulation
In effect · South Dakota · State
Effective: 1 July 2026
Issuing authority: South Dakota Legislature
South Dakota's 2026 House Bill 1038 lets the Public Utilities Commission charge a data center customer the actual cost of reviewing a contract with deviations or another electric service agreement with its public utility.
Enacted legislation or regulation
In effect · South Dakota · State
Effective: 1 July 2026
Issuing authority: South Dakota Legislature
South Dakota's 2026 Senate Bill 135 requires electricity providers to keep separate terms and conditions for data centers with loads of 10 megawatts or more, so the data center pays the costs fairly attributed to its service.
Enacted legislation or regulation
In effect · Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. South Dakota electric service area · Utility territory
Effective: 1 September 2024
Issuing authority: Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. (tariff filed with the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission)
Montana-Dakota Utilities' South Dakota Rate 45 offers interruptible service to data center-type facilities with high density computing, at least 10,000 kW of expected monthly demand and an 85 percent load factor.
Enacted legislation or regulation
In effect · Leola site, FEM Electric Association service area, South Dakota · State
Last checked: 3 November 2026
Issuing authority: South Dakota Public Utilities Commission
The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission, acting under SDCL 49-34A-56, granted Leola Data Center, LLC's petition to take electric service from Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. for a proposed data center near MDU's Leola substation, a site inside FEM Electric Association's assigned service area.
Adopted measures with unverified effect, adopted future measures, open proceedings, proposals, drafts and nonbinding context stay separate from current rules.
Regulatory or tariff proceeding
Pending proceeding · Otter Tail Power Company South Dakota service area · Utility territory
Source document: 27 July 2026
Issuing authority: Otter Tail Power Company (petition filed with the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission)
Otter Tail Power Company petitioned the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission on 27 July 2026 to create a very large customer class and a new high power compute rate schedule for customers with at least 75 MW of firm data center load.
Regulatory or tariff proceeding
Pending proceeding · Montana-Dakota Utilities service to the Leola site, South Dakota · State
Source document: 5 August 2024
Issuing authority: South Dakota Public Utilities Commission
Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. asked the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission on 5 August 2024 to approve an electric service agreement under its Rate 45 with Leola Data Center LLC for a data center near MDU's Leola substation.
Expired, repealed, vetoed, failed, blocked, superseded and completed measures remain visible without being presented as current.
Legislation introduced (any outcome)
Did not pass · South Dakota · State
Ended: 4 February 2026
Issuing authority: South Dakota Legislature
South Dakota House Bill 1005 of 2026 proposed a fifty-year sales and use tax exemption for equipment and software used in qualified data centers, conditioned on electric service terms that avoid shifting costs to other customers and on notice to local water providers.
Legislation introduced (any outcome)
Did not pass · South Dakota · State
Ended: 20 February 2026
Issuing authority: South Dakota Legislature
South Dakota House Bill 1246 of 2026 proposed barring state agencies and local governments from signing confidentiality or nondisclosure agreements about the construction, development or location of data centers.
Legislation introduced (any outcome)
Did not pass · South Dakota · State
Ended: 18 February 2026
Issuing authority: South Dakota Legislature
South Dakota House Bill 1301 of 2026 proposed electricity cost protections, reporting and decommissioning duties for data centers and a moratorium on new or expanded large data centers through June 2027.
Legislation introduced (any outcome)
Did not pass · South Dakota · State
Ended: 18 February 2026
Issuing authority: South Dakota Legislature
South Dakota Senate Bill 127 of 2026 proposed a one-mile residential setback and a 45-decibel noise limit for data centers, with violations treated as nuisances.
Legislation introduced (any outcome)
Did not pass · South Dakota · State
Ended: 18 February 2026
Issuing authority: South Dakota Legislature
South Dakota Senate Bill 128 of 2026 proposed water duties for large electricity customers operating as data centers, including closed-loop cooling, limits on water withdrawal and quarterly reports, along with changes to utility definitions.
Legislation introduced (any outcome)
Did not pass · South Dakota · State
Ended: 13 February 2025
Issuing authority: South Dakota Legislature
South Dakota's Senate Bill 177 in the 2025 session would have created a sales and use tax refund for goods and services related to data center operations.
Legislation introduced (any outcome)
Did not pass · South Dakota · State
Ended: 18 February 2026
Issuing authority: South Dakota Legislature
South Dakota Senate Bill 232 of 2026 proposed a moratorium, through June 2027, on building or expanding hyperscale data centers of 50 megawatts or more.
Legislation introduced (any outcome)
Did not pass · South Dakota · State
Ended: 18 February 2026
Issuing authority: South Dakota Legislature
South Dakota Senate Bill 234 of 2026 proposed a sales and use tax exemption for equipment and software used in qualified data centers, conditioned on electric service terms that avoid cost shifting and on notice to local water providers.
Legislation introduced (any outcome)
Did not pass · South Dakota · State
Ended: 18 February 2026
Issuing authority: South Dakota Legislature
South Dakota Senate Bill 235 of 2026 proposed a data center sales and use tax exemption together with utility cost, local authority and water provisions.
Enacted legislation or regulation · Listed coverage: part of South Dakota
In effect · Southwest Power Pool region (multistate) · Regional grid
Effective: 1 July 2026
Issuing authority: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
On 5 June 2026 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission accepted Southwest Power Pool tariff revisions, effective 1 July 2026, that add Conditional High Impact Large Load Service, a non-firm transmission service that can serve a large load such as a data center before long-term firm service is available, for up to seven years and subject to curtailment.
Enacted legislation or regulation · Listed coverage: part of South Dakota
In effect · Southwest Power Pool region (multistate) · Regional grid
Effective: 15 January 2026
Issuing authority: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
On 14 January 2026 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission accepted Southwest Power Pool tariff revisions, effective 15 January 2026, that add a High Impact Large Load study process and a generation assessment for those loads.
Review dates: the 15 South Dakota records were last checked 23 September 2026 to 3 November 2026. No scheduled review is overdue as of the tracker date 3 November 2026. No single record, and not this list, establishes complete statewide policy coverage.