Renewable Energy System Exemption

In March 2010, South Dakota established a new property tax incentive that replaced two existing property tax incentives for renewable energy. Facilities that generate electricity using wind, solar, hydro, hydrogen generated by another eligible resource, or biomass resources are eligible for this incentive, as are facilities that generate other forms of energy using solar or geothermal resources. For eligible facilities less than 5 megawatts (MW) in capacity, all real property used or constructed for the purpose of producing electricity is assessed in the same manner as other real property. However, the first $50,000 or 70% of the assessed value of eligible property, whichever is greater, is exempt from the real property tax. For geothermal systems that produce thermal energy, but not electricity, this exemption is limited to the first four continuous years for residential systems and to the first three continuous years for commercial systems.