Company Seeks State Approval for $750 Million Western SD Wind Farm

By Joshua Haiar

A company is asking South Dakota regulators for approval to construct a $750 million wind farm in western South Dakota that would produce up to 300 megawatts — enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes. 

The proposal from Philip Wind Partners, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Invenergy, would be in a 70,000-acre area of privately owned land in Haakon County about 15 miles north of Philip, which is about 85 miles east of Rapid City. Plans call for up to 87 turbines and up to seven miles of electrical transmission lines.

According to the application, the project would create about 200 construction jobs and 12 long-term jobs. Over 30 years, the company anticipates more than $85 million in payments to landowners, over $50 million in property taxes, and over $10 million in state and local sales taxes.

Power from the project would be delivered into the Southwest Power Pool, which the application says faces a regional electric capacity shortfall later this decade. The Southwest Power Pool is a nonprofit corporation tasked by the federal government with managing the electrical grid and wholesale power market in many of the Great Plains states.

Philip Wind Partners said it situated turbine locations to avoid unbroken prairie grasslands and avoid sites near prairie grouse mating spots. The Western Area Power Administration has completed an environmental review of the project, issuing a finding of no significant impact.

The commission will review the application over the coming months. If approved, construction could begin as early as next year, with operations beginning by 2027.

In March, Invenergy was awarded a permit for a 260 megawatt, 68-turbine project in northeastern South Dakota called the Deuel Harvest Wind Energy South. The “south” in that project’s name distinguishes it from the 109-turbine Deuel Harvest Wind Farm, which Invenergy completed in 2021 and sold to Atlanta-based Southern Power.

South Dakota ranks 13th in the nation with about 3,500 megawatts of installed wind energy capacity, according to the American Clean Power Association.

South Dakota Searchlight launched in 2022. The Searchlight is an affiliate of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, supported by grants and donations. The staff of the Searchlight retains full editorial independence.