Data centers in South Dakota: 3 projects mapped

Imagery: Esri, Maxar

South Dakota's one big live proposal is Gemini Data Center SD's campus of up to 500 megawatts of power on about 160 acres between Sioux Falls and Brandon. Sioux Falls rezoned 145.6 acres for it in January after a six-hour meeting, and Gemini says the project is "not on hold" but still needs a tenant. The next local decisions are Lincoln County's joint meeting with the Sioux Falls City Council on October 27 and Rapid City's planning commission hearing on its data center rules on November 5.

At the Sioux Falls meeting, one resident said "this one facility is projected to more than double our entire city's energy consumption." The city says the site may use city water only for domestic purposes, not for cooling. The state's biggest earlier plan, Applied Digital's $5 billion, 430-megawatt campus near Toronto in Deuel County, is off: after lawmakers rejected tax breaks for data centers this year, the company said the project "doesn't make sense at this time" and would let its land agreement lapse.

Counties are writing their own rules. Yankton County commissioners voted unanimously in July for a six-month moratorium on data centers, which they can extend another six months if no ordinance is ready. In Lincoln County, commissioners voted 3-2 on August 25 against advancing a moratorium on very large data centers near Sioux Falls, then set the October meeting. In Rapid City, where Sequitor Edge plans a smaller data center at the Black Hills Industrial Center, draft rules would ban data centers using 50 megawatts or more and 10,000 gallons of water a day.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.