South Dakota's Renewable Energy Leadership (2024)
Ranks #2 nationally for share of electricity from renewables.
Contributes to regional reliability and resource diversity across the Basin Electric system
Powering the Silicon Valley of the Midwest: Energy, Innovation, and Opportunity in Central South Dakota
Out here, the horizon still feels endless– wheat fields, gravel roads, a substation blinking against the prairie sky. For decades, this stretch of land west of Onida has been known more for pheasant hunts and harvests than for anything resembling Silicon Valley. But that’s changing.
When Oahe Electric Cooperative partnered with Big Watt Digital, a data-infrastructure developer, a quiet corner of “God’s Country” found itself at the center of one of the fastest-moving transformations in American energy. What began as a single Bitcoin-mining site is evolving into a multi-phase data-center campus that could someday match the electricity demand of an entire city, and return millions each year to local schools, jobs, and the cooperative’s member-owners.
Building the Backbone of the AI Era
Big Watt’s model merges energy generation and compute infrastructure — the electrons and the servers that now drive the modern economy. Its dual divisions, Big Watt Power and Big Watt Digital, plan and operate everything from on-site generation to modular data-center design.
For Oahe Electric, that means providing reliable power at an unprecedented scale while ensuring the benefits stay local.
Economic Ripple Effect
The numbers are staggering. Big Watt currently contributes roughly $850,000 a year in kilowatt-hour taxes directly to local schools and could eventually provide more than $160 million annually as future phases come online. Payroll tops several million a year, with nearly all staff drawn from within the region.
They sponsor booths at the town’s Fall Festival, partner with Dakota State University on cybersecurity programs, and are working with SDSU and state housing commissions to develop affordable workforce housing near the site.
A Cooperative’s Balancing Act
Behind the enthusiasm is the careful pragmatism of a cooperative that has served its members for 75 years. Oahe’s team weighs each new project against reliability, safety, and long-term value. Lamb calls it “building steel in the ground first,” pairing firm generation such as natural-gas turbines with future renewable and battery options.
“What we’re building here is the Silicon Valley of the Midwest,” Lamb says. “High-paying jobs, from engineers to wrench-turners — good benefits, and opportunities that keep our young people here in South Dakota.”
Integrating Renewables into the Mix
While Oahe’s near-term focus is on dispatchable generation that ensures reliability for large-scale data centers, renewables remain a vital part of its long-term strategy—both locally and across South Dakota’s power network.
Jordan Lamb
CEO of OAHE Electric Cooperative on Big Watt
Through voluntary curtailment agreements, Big Watt reduces load during high-price or high-demand periods, keeping the cooperative’s costs, and member rates, stable. They also prepay their power, allowing Oahe to reinvest those funds and generate returns that further offset member expenses.
In 2024, South Dakota generated 81% of its electricity from renewable resources—second only to Vermont.
Nearly 60% came from wind, and 21% from hydropower. As part of the Basin Electric system, Oahe benefits from Basin’s “all-of-the-above” generation strategy—one that already includes 37% renewables through wind and hydro. Basin is also expanding its portfolio by purchasing energy from projects like Wild Springs Solar, the state’s largest solar farm.
“Renewables play an important role in helping us capture and store energy when it’s available and use it when it’s needed most,” Lamb says. “We’re focused on reliability first, sustainability right alongside it—and keeping rates stable for our members.”
That philosophy aligns with Oahe’s broader 2024 construction work plan, which includes burying over 75 miles of three-phase line to improve reliability, safety, and capacity for its 3,500 member-owners.
Looking Ahead
By 2030, the Big Watt campus could rival the scale of Minneapolis in electrical demand. Yet Lamb remains focused on what that means for the people behind the meters– stable rates, strong schools, and the chance for young South Dakotans to build careers without leaving home.
For skeptics, the project also raises a larger question about national priorities. In a world where artificial intelligence now underpins everything from financial systems to defense, where this infrastructure lives, and who controls it, has become a matter of national security. Data centers are going to be built somewhere. The choice is whether those investments happen in American communities with U.S. ownership and local accountability, or overseas under foreign control.
“We’d rather see that growth right here in South Dakota,” Lamb says. “Our members benefit directly, the schools get stronger, and we keep the control, and the jobs, at home.”
About Oahe Electric Cooperative
Serving roughly 3,500 member-owners across Hughes and Sully Counties, Oahe Electric Cooperative provides safe, reliable, and affordable power throughout central South Dakota. Founded in 1948, Oahe is committed to delivering extraordinary value through competitively priced services, high-quality electric delivery, and a strong focus on member satisfaction.
As a Touchstone Energy cooperative, Oahe operates with accountability, integrity, and a deep commitment to community. The co-op continues to modernize its system—investing in new infrastructure, buried line projects, and long-term reliability improvements—to enhance quality of life and create growth opportunities throughout its service area.
About Big Watt Digital
Big Watt Digital is a U.S.-owned energy and data-infrastructure developer operating high-density compute campuses across the Midwest. Through its two divisions — Big Watt Power and Big Watt Digital — the company designs and builds sites that integrate on-site power generation, modular data-center systems, and voluntary curtailment models that support grid reliability and local communities. Big Watt is currently developing multi-phase infrastructure in central South Dakota, including one of the largest AI-ready data-center projects in the region.