South Dakota has only 803 MW of wind installed, but still produces 25.3% of its electricity from wind. This percentage is the 2nd highest in the nation. South Dakota has a very strong wind resource that has been developed without extensive state policy legislation: it is the only state in the region without a net metering policy and its renewable energy goal (10% by 2015) is only voluntary. South Dakota has long had an uncompetitive tax rate on wind compared to surrounding states, but tax rates were adjusted in a new bill passed in 2015. This bill reduced state taxes on wind to the levels of neighbors North Dakota and Minnesota in order to be more competitive.
A significant project is underway in South Dakota among a partnership of Native American tribes. Eight Sioux Tribes have come together to jointly develop their wind resources. The resulting enterprise has the potential to build one of the largest utility-grade wind installations in the country, generating over a gigawatt of power, and will provide both economic self-sufficiency and political self-determination for the Tribes, which occupy the poorest counties in the United States.