Lawmakers Eye Impact of Massive Data Centers on South Dakota’s Power Grid

South Dakota is drawing attention from high-tech companies looking to build massive data centers powered by new energy infrastructure. State Representative Karla Lems recently toured Applied Data’s two-million-square-foot facility under construction in Ellendale, North Dakota

By Christal Blue September 1, 2025 11:21 am

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MITCHELL, S.D. (MITCHELLNOW) New power plants, wind farms and transmission lines, as high-tech companies eye South Dakota for hosting massive data centers. State Representative Karla Lems took in a North Dakota Development and Energy Transmission Committee hearing this week in an effort to know more about development plans. She toured a new data center nearing completion in Ellendale, North Dakota that will eventually grow to more than two-million square feet of data center space which will require nearly as much power as the entire city of Sioux Falls. Lems said she came away with three main concerns. The Ellendale site is being built by Applied Data, which also wants to build similar data centers in South Dakota. For more Government stories from MitchellNow.com, Click Here.

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