Power Plants in South Dakota

South Dakota's power sector in numbers

Bywatts maps 28 operating power plants with 4.2 GW of nameplate capacity in South Dakota. Hydro leads with 38% of that capacity across 3 plants, followed by Wind (19%) and Natural Gas (15%). The inventory also includes 7 plants (73 MW) that EIA-860 lists as retired and 1 never built; the largest retired plant is HURON (58 MW, retired 2022).

The largest operating plants are OAHE (784 MW, Hydro, USCE-MISSOURI RIVER DISTRICT), BIG BEND (494 MW, Hydro, USCE-MISSOURI RIVER DISTRICT) and BIG STONE (457 MW, Coal, OTTER TAIL POWER CO).

Of the 26 operating plants with a recorded commissioning year, 12 came online in 2000 or later and 4 in 2010 or later; the busiest decade for new capacity was the 1960s (1.4 GW).

The largest operators by operating capacity are USCE-MISSOURI RIVER DISTRICT (3 plants, 1.6 GW), BASIN ELECTRIC POWER COOP (4 plants, 810 MW) and OTTER TAIL POWER CO (2 plants, 481 MW).

Retail electricity sales in South Dakota reached 13.8 TWh in 2025, up 14.1% over ten years and up 1.3% year on year; residential customers took 38.7% of it. The average retail price across all sectors was 11.33 cents per kWh, up 19.6% since 2015.

The database also maps 78 named substations (none of the 12 with a recorded voltage is rated 345 kV or above), no data centers, 18 solar installers and 3 solar companies in South Dakota.

Operating capacity by fuel

Retail electricity sales

Sources: HIFLD power-plant inventory (capacity, fuel, operator), EIA-860 (commissioning year, retirements, operable capacity), EIA retail sales and revenue series through January 2026. Counts are of plants Bywatts lists, not every generator in the state.