State solar profile · #42 of 51
Solar in South Dakota: slow payback despite sun
South Dakota's 17.1-yr modeled payback (#44 of 51) is on the slow side of the corpus; rates (11¢/kWh) and 1 programs decide whether sun (5 kWh/m²/day) still pays.
- 5
- kWh/m²/day irradiance
- 11¢
- avg electricity rate
- 17.1 yr
- payback (#44)
- 1
- incentive programs
EIA nameplate inventory
Nameplate SD · South Dakota score #42/51
South Dakota | 23/100 | 17.1 yr payback | 209 MW
- PHOTO 23/100
- BOOK #42/51
- VS-AVG 5 kWh
- GW 11c/kWh
- IRR 17.1 yr
- STRIP 209 MW
- FORM860 1 programs
- MW near Mississippi
Stamps derive from this state's NREL irradiance, EIA Form 860 / Electric Power Monthly nameplate, and DSIRE incentive row (score, rank, sun, rate, payback, capacity, programs, peer), not a quote or site assessment. Modeled figures use a typical 6 kW system; your roof, shading, and utility tariff decide the real return. See our disclaimer. Verify with EIA Form 860 → · Read with methodology → · Net-metering guide → · Personalized estimate → · All state rows → · States ranked → · Payback vs U.S. avg (14.2 yr): 2.9 yr slower
Modeled 6 kW payback · South Dakota and nearest peers
Shorter bars = faster simple payback on the NREL/EIA model
- IA
Iowa
17 years
- TN
Tennessee
17 years
- OR
Oregon
17 years
- AK
Alaska
17 years
- SD
South Dakota
17 years
- AR
Arkansas
17 years
What this shows South Dakota sits at 17.1 years among nearest payback peers (2.9 yr slower vs the 14.2-yr U.S. average).
Slow-band 25-year ROI · South Dakota
$16,500
system cost
$964/yr
modeled savings
17.1 yr
break-even
+$7,600
25-year net
Slow-band math: $16,500 in vs $964/yr out. Check net-metering (full) and program stack before treating the 25-year net as settled. Run a personalized estimate →
Installed solar capacity in South Dakota, 2016–2024
Total solar nameplate capacity in South Dakota reported to the EIA, utility-scale and reported distributed systems. The number of reporting facilities grew 3x (1 to 3) between 2016 and 2024, and the average site size grew from 1 MW to 70 MW per site, a shift toward larger utility-scale installations.
Strong sun, slower payback in South Dakota
Irradiance 5 kWh/m²/day (at/above the 4.8 national mean) vs 17.1-yr payback (slow band vs 14.2-yr mean). Crosshairs mark those means.
South Dakota's payback trails most of the country
South Dakota's 17.1-yr modeled break-even trails 86% of the 51 tracked states.
South Dakota vs all states by modeled payback
2-year payback bands across the full 50-state-plus-DC model.
17 Slower than most slower than 84% of 51 states
all tracked states, bucketed by value
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source PlainSolarData model, NREL irradiance + EIA rates · 2024
Solar & grid details
- Net-metering policy
- full
- Renewable portfolio standard
- Voluntary (10% by 2015)
- Installed cost / watt
- $2.75/W
- Annual production (6 kW)
- 8,760 kWh
- Installed capacity (EIA 2024)
- 209 MW
Top incentive programs
1 tracked program for South Dakota residents
Partial program list. PlainSolarData's list for South Dakota is short or incomplete (1 tracked program). Other programs may exist; check DSIRE and your utility. The solar score's incentive component counts the programs tracked here, so this state's score may understate its incentives.
All South Dakota solar incentives (1)
States alongside South Dakota on slower payback
Two non-geographic peer sets for South Dakota: composite score neighbors and payback-year neighbors (deduped so each row links a distinct comparison).
Closest match: composite solar score
Nearest nationwide matches on the NREL/EIA/DSIRE blend (23/100 here).
- Mississippi · score 23/100
- Nebraska · score 23/100
- Alabama · score 24/100
- Arkansas · score 24/100
Peers are nearest-neighbor matches on published composite scores and modeled 6 kW payback years; rankings above use the same fields but sort the full corpus.
Solar resource from NREL; electricity rates and installed capacity from the U.S. EIA; incentive programs from DSIRE. See our methodology.