Solar and battery interconnection rules in South Dakota

Size bands and what each one obliges

The screens that decide it

• Within the 10 MW ceiling Limit 10000 kW.

  The chapter governs facilities of ten megawatts or less, and above that it may be used as the basis for the process by agreement.

• Aggregate generation on a shared single phase secondary under 20 kW Limit 20 kW.

  South Dakota caps aggregated capacity on a shared single phase secondary at 20 kilowatts, and a spot network at the lesser of 5 percent of maximum load or 50 kilowatts.

• Aggregate generation under 15 percent of line section annual peak load 15 percent of line section peak load, a figure only the utility holds.

  Measured at the substation or calculated for the line section, and the aggregate expressly includes federally jurisdictional wholesale generators and those with a higher queue position. The screen is switched off for a non export project: it does not apply to Tier 3.

Ask the utility this, before you sell it

1. South Dakota has no net metering program at all, so what will you pay for exported energy? The interconnection chapter creates a right to connect and no billing credit, which is a different thing from a program that is closed.
2. Is this address served by a municipal utility or a rural electric cooperative? Neither is a public utility under the statute and this chapter does not reach them.
3. Is this project non export? Tier 3 covers a non export facility up to 2 megawatts and switches off the 15 percent screen entirely.

Worth knowing before you quote

Timelines are in business days unless noted: three to acknowledge receipt and state the review start date, ten to say whether the application is complete, fifteen to complete a Tier 1 review, twenty for Tiers 2 and 3, twenty five calendar days for an area network study, and ten to conduct a witness test, after which the customer may proceed if the utility has not. Before any cost above the application fee is assessed the applicant must authorize the utility to continue, or the application is considered withdrawn and the original fee forfeited. Self insurance is permitted. No aggregate cap exists because there is no program to cap.