South Dakota PUC grants construction permit to Wild Springs solar facility

The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission granted a construction permit for the Wild Springs Solar Project in Pennington County.

This permit opens the door for the project to move forward with plans to construct a solar energy facility capable of generating up to 128 megawatts of energy. The proposed solar project will be built on 1,499 acres of privately-owned land and includes approximately 340,000 solar panels.

“It’s extremely interesting and very exciting to see this type of renewable energy project being developed in South Dakota,” PUC Chairman Gary Hanson said. “Ten to 20 years ago, solar energy wasn’t considered a viable option for our state because we didn’t have the right climate for it. It’s exciting to see that technology has grown and investors are willing to support a renewable energy that has very few challenges from the standpoint of aesthetics or noise or anything of that nature.”

The approved permit includes 38 conditions that must be adhered to during the project’s construction and operation. Conditions include land restoration, potential impacts to threatened and endangered species, post-construction breeding bird surveys and associated nest monitoring, and the financial assurance for future decommissioning.

“Decommissioning financial assurance is something we’ve been dealing with for the last three years on various projects. We’ve talked about a lot of different options, and an escrow account is the one we’ve adopted up to this point; partly because until now, we’ve never had a bond presented to us in a manner that was irrevocable. In this case, the applicant has figured out a way to give us the assurance that no matter what happens to the owner, the bond will remain in place,” PUC Vice Chairman Chris Nelson said. “I greatly appreciate the time staff has put in to initially raise the question of whether this was appropriate and then to work through the details with the applicant to ensure that this will work long term.”

Construction of the $190 million facility is expected to be completed by the end of 2022. It will interconnect to the New Underwood Substation owned by Western Area Power Administration. Basin Electric Power Cooperative will purchase the energy produced by the solar facility.

“This is South Dakota’s biggest solar project to date. We at the PUC have had a lot of experience with wind development in the last few years, but in certain regards, solar is different. I appreciate the efforts made by PUC staff and the applicant to help us ensure our landowners will be well protected,” Commissioner Kristie Fiegen said.