South Dakota solar leads

Solar radiation in Sioux Falls

The sunlight figure on this page is for Sioux Falls, the largest South Dakota city in the Census Bureau’s July 1, 2025 estimates. The National Laboratory of the Rockies, formerly NREL, calculates 4.82 kWh per square meter per day there with its PVWatts calculator (checked October 9, 2026).

The calculation uses the PVWatts version 8 default system, a fixed, open-rack array tilted 20 degrees and facing south, at the Census gazetteer point for Sioux Falls, with National Solar Radiation Database typical-year weather. West River locations, roof slope and shading give different results, so the figure is a comparison point between states rather than an estimate for a particular home.

Selling excess solar power in South Dakota

South Dakota’s Public Utilities Commission handles excess generation through filed purchase rates. Its page on rates for purchase of electricity from small renewable power facilities explains that SDCL 49-34A-108 requires each electric utility to file with the commission its minimum rates for buying electricity generated from renewable resources by a small renewable power facility with a capacity of 100 kW or less (checked October 9, 2026). The page lists filings from cooperatives and municipal power suppliers, with filing dates from 2019 to 2025.

The commission’s solar FAQ, dated October 10, 2024, says that for utilities within its jurisdiction the PUC regulates small generator interconnection practices and the price solar generators are paid for excess generation, and it advises homeowners to ask their utility about the interconnection process, its cost and how excess generation is compensated. Because the rate depends on the utility, a buyer’s installers confirm the serving utility before quoting.

Large projects are handled separately. The PUC’s solar page says facilities of 100 MW or more must get a commission permit before construction and that smaller solar projects are not regulated by the commission for siting. In the same FAQ, solar supplied 47,337 MWh of the 17,905,904 MWh generated in South Dakota in 2023, about 0.26%.

South Dakota’s renewable energy property tax exemption

South Dakota treats small renewable energy systems as their own property class. SDCL 10-4-44 says that, for renewable energy facilities with less than 5 MW of nameplate capacity, real property used to produce electricity from a renewable resource is classified as renewable energy property and locally assessed, and the first $50,000 of its assessed value or 70% of its assessed value, whichever is greater, is exempt from real property tax (as of October 9, 2026).

The PUC’s tax incentives page describes the same exemption as continuous for solar and other systems that produce electricity, and refers questions to the Department of Revenue or the county director of equalization (checked October 9, 2026). How it applies to a given property is a question for those offices.

South Dakota counties by owner-occupied detached homes

The ten South Dakota counties with the most owner-occupied single-family detached homes are below, with owner-occupied homes and the detached share, from the ACS 5-year 2020-2024 table B25032 at county level. The table describes housing and says nothing about where leads come from.

Minnehaha and Lincoln, the two counties of the Sioux Falls area, hold 62,600 owner-occupied detached homes between them in the 2020-2024 county estimates, and Pennington, home to Rapid City, holds 26,800. Davison has the highest detached share in the ten at 92.0%.

What South Dakota solar buyers filter on

A solar buyer usually sets filters on a few lead fields. In South Dakota they relate to the facts above as follows:

• Homeowner status: the owner signs for a system; see the owner-occupied detached homes above.
• Project type: the kind of solar project the homeowner asks about, in general terms; the exact options are set when the solar form is finalized.
• Timeframe: whether the homeowner plans to install soon or is gathering information.
• ZIP code: buyers choose ZIP codes their crews reach, East River or West River, with the county table as a housing reference.

The filters for South Dakota solar leads are agreed with each buyer during onboarding. Exclusive or shared routing for solar leads is agreed with each buyer during onboarding. All fields are listed on the sample solar lead.

Request South Dakota solar leads

Email us the South Dakota ZIP codes you cover, your daily volume or caps and how you take delivery. ReturnReturnA buyer's request for credit on a lead that fails agreed standards, such as a disconnected number, a duplicate or a lead outside the filters. Glossary terms are agreed on the onboarding call, before you go live.