MASSIVE DATA CENTERS THAT CONSUME LARGE AMOUNTS OF ENERGY HAVE EYES ON SOUTH DAKOTA

SOUTH DAKOTA (Joshua Haiar / South Dakota Searchlight) – Massive data centers used for cloud computing and artificial intelligence are consuming enormous amounts of energy, and developers are eyeing South Dakota as a potential location, regulators say.

These “hyperscale data centers,” or “hyperscalers,” are designed to handle immense computing demands and are often operated by tech giants. The centers are characterized by their large size — often tens of thousands of square feet — and thousands of computer servers that require significant energy to operate.

Nick Phillips with Applied Digital in Texas, a developer of the centers, highlighted South Dakota’s appeal: a cold climate that cuts down on cooling a room full of hot servers, and abundant wind energy that’s considered one of the most cost-effective renewable energy sources, which can help keep operating costs down.

State regulators are not aware of any hyperscale data centers currently operating in South Dakota.

“There isn’t a requirement to report hyperscale data centers to the commission, so we don’t have a formal method to track that information,” said Leah Mohr with the Public Utilities Commission.

Commissioner Kristie Fiegen noted that the state’s largest proposed data center is a 50-megawatt facility in Leola.

“We don’t know what’s coming,” she said. “But the utilities are getting calls every week from people trying to see if they have the megawatts available.”

The commission recently hosted a meeting in Pierre with representatives from regional utilities, regional power grid associations and data centers. The goal was to understand the emerging demands and facilitate an information exchange.

Bob Sahr, a former public utilities commissioner and current CEO of East River Electric Cooperative in Madison, emphasized the scale of energy needed.

“We’re talking loads that eclipse some of the largest cities in South Dakota,” he said.

A single data center campus can require anywhere from 300 to 500 megawatts of electricity to operate. One megawatt can power hundreds of homes. By one estimate, there are over 1,000 hyperscalers worldwide, with the U.S. hosting just over half of them.

Ryan Long, president of Xcel Energy, headquartered in Minneapolis, illustrated the extreme nature of the demand.

“We now have, I would say, north of seven gigawatts of requests across the Xcel Energy footprint for data centers to locate in one of our eight states,” he said. “And I’ll be very frank that there’s no way that we’re going to be able to serve all of that in a reasonable amount of time.”

Protecting existing customers from potential costs or energy shortages is another shared concern. Utility representatives emphasized the need for coal and natural gas to maintain a reliable “base load” when renewable sources like wind and solar are unavailable. Arick Sears of Iowa-based MidAmerican Energy underscored the point, noting that costs for each data center should depend on how much energy it consumes.

“We need to ensure that large-scale energy users are paying their fair share,” he said.

Utilities also flagged the risk of “stranded costs,” referring to a data center ceasing operations, leaving a utility with added infrastructure to meet a demand that no longer exists. They said financial safeguards will need to be written into power agreements with hyperscalers.

Speed of deployment is another pressing issue. Representatives from Montana-Dakota Utilities, headquartered in North Dakota, and NorthWestern Energy, headquartered in Sioux Falls, noted that some facilities expect to be operational within months of making a deal, straining infrastructure, planning and resources.

Grid managers Brian Tulloh of Indiana-based Midcontinent Independent System Operator and Lanny Nickell of Arkansas-based Southwest Power Pool echoed those concerns. They warned that data center growth is outpacing the grid’s ability to meet demand and cautioned against decommissioning coal power plants too quickly. Setting aside how much it would cost to produce the required energy, Tulloh estimated that MISO needs $30 billion in electric transmission infrastructure to support the demand from hyperscalers.

“The grid wasn’t designed for that,” Public Utilities Commissioner Chris Nelson told South Dakota Searchlight after the meeting.

Nelson was glad to hear the data centers will include backup generators, similar to hospitals, for power outages or when homes need prioritization. He said some even aim to have huge batteries to power the plant until the generators get going. They would consume massive amounts of diesel and natural gas until the outage is over.

Nelson said all of this makes modern nuclear energy facilities more attractive. He said few alternative “base load” options remain, and the public has little appetite for ramping up coal power.

NorthWestern Energy is exploring the possibility of constructing a small nuclear power plant in South Dakota, with an estimated cost of $1.2 billion to $1.6 billion for a 320-megawatt facility. The plant would be the first in the state since a test facility near Sioux Falls in the 1960s.

The company is conducting a study, partially funded by the Department of Energy. Details about the study and potential plant sites remain confidential.

Additionally, South Dakota’s Legislature has shown interest in nuclear energy, passing a resolution for further study on the topic that led to the publication of an issue memorandum by the Legislative Research Council.

 

NURSE IN NORTHWEST IOWA REACHES PLEA DEAL IN NEGLECT CASE

SIOUX CITY, IA (KTIV) – A northwest Iowa nurse has reached a plea deal in a case of neglect that led to the death of a nursing home resident last year.

70-year-old Becky Manning agreed to an Alford plea to an aggravated misdemeanor charge of wanton neglect of a resident of a healthcare facility, which was reduced from a felony charge.

An Alford plea is one in which a defendant doesn’t admit guilt but acknowledges that the prosecution has enough evidence to convict at trial.

Prosecutors allege that Manning refused to provide life-extending care in February of 2023 to a resident at Fonda Specialty Care and as a result of that refusal, the resident died.

The resident’s family filed a civil suit against Manning, her employer, the nursing home and its parent company earlier this year.

Manning is due back in court on January 13th for sentencing in the case.

 

THREE PEOPLE EJECTED FROM VEHICLE AFTER CRASH IN NORTHWEST IOWA

PRIMGHAR, IA – Seven people were injured late Sunday night in O’Brien County, Iowa after a vehicle went off a road and rolled.

A crash report from the O’Brien County Sheriff’s Office says it happened at about 11:09 p.m. on Dec. 8. Only one vehicle, a 2001 Ford Escape, was involved in the crash at Nettle Ave and Iowa Highway 10, an intersection between Granville and Paullina.

A witness told the sheriff’s office the SUV was going north on Nettle Ave when it failed to stop at the intersection’s stop sign, crossed the highway and lost control. The SUV then went off the road, entered a ditch and rolled into a farm field.

There were seven people in the vehicle, and three of them were ejected during the crash. All seven were identified as Chicago residents, with four of them receiving serious/life-threatening injuries and the other three receiving minor injuries.

30-year-old Wuilder Montoya, the driver, had minor injuries

39-year-old Anna Prieto, serious injuries

44-year-old Jonathan Falcon, serious injuries, was ejected from the vehicle

33-year-old Edison Reinosa Pacheco, serious injuries, had to be extricated from the vehicle

30-year-old Victor Herrera, minor injuries, was ejected from the vehicle

24-year-old Odriana Gonzalez, serious injuries, was ejected from the vehicle

30-year-old Humberto Guitierez Mora, minor injuries

All seven were taken to hospitals in Sheldon and Orange City. For the three ejected from the vehicle, authorities say Gonzalez was not using a seat belt but it is unknown if Herrera or Falcon were wearing seat belts.

The driver, Montoya, was given four citations including failure to obey a traffic control device, failure to maintain control, no valid driver’s license and failure to provide proof of financial liability.

The crash report states the weather was clear and the road was dry when the rollover happened. It also stated that the roadway is not lighted in that area.

The SUV was totaled in the crash and had to be towed from the scene.

 

NATIVE KIDS REMAIN OVER-REPRESENTED IN THE FOSTER SYSTEM, SOUTH DAKOTA PLANS TO INVEST IN PREVENTION, KINSHIP CARE

SOUTH DAKOTA (Makenzie Huber / South Dakota Searchlight) – Native American children remain overrepresented in the South Dakota foster care system, accounting for 72.5% of the foster care population at the end of fiscal year 2024, according to new data.

That’s down slightly from 74% at the end of the 2023 fiscal year. The state’s fiscal years run from July to June.

The percentage is still about seven times greater than Indigenous children’s representation in the state’s general population.

The state Department of Social Services recently released its annual Child Protection Services report, detailing the number of children in foster care, how they’re cared for and where they’re discharged.

Of the state’s 1,710 foster care children at the end of fiscal year 2024, 1,239 were Native American, the report says.

Nearly 30% of children, regardless of their race, were placed in kinship care with relatives or close family friends, while 85% were placed in a “family setting” with a foster family.

The department added the “kinship care placement” detail in the latest report as it works to increase the number of family members or relatives caring for a child instead of placing a child in a foster home. Of the state’s 824 foster homes, 89 — or 11% — are Native American.

The department plans to start a Kinship Licensing Program next year to increase kinship caregiver numbers. Currently, kinship caregivers don’t receive the same amount of resources and financial support as foster parents, unless they become licensed foster parents themselves. That training is intensive, time consuming and potentially unrelated to the kin’s situation since they’re already familiar with the child.

When children have to be removed from their homes, prioritizing kinship care can improve academic, behavioral and mental health outcomes, and allow the child to stay within their culture and community, according to Child Trends, a research organization focused on child welfare.

 

The next step in creating the Kinship Licensing Program is to get approval from the Legislative Rules Review Committee.

According to the 2024 fiscal year report, Child Protection Services worked with over 700 children without removing them from their home. That can be through a “safety plan,” which is a strategy created by a social worker to address safety concerns of at-risk families while a case is being investigated.

“What we know is when parents and children can be together and both go through those changes and processes and see that behavior change at the same time, we tend to see better outcomes,” said Pamela Bennett, the division director of South Dakota Child Protection Services, during an Indian Child Welfare Advisory Council meeting earlier this year.

South Dakota is developing its federally mandated, three-year Family First Prevention Plan, which would use federal funds to pay for prevention services without removing children from at-risk homes. South Dakota is one of the last four states in the nation to create its plan.

Of the 1,006 children who left the child welfare system during the 2024 fiscal year, 493 were reunited with their families, 233 were adopted (58% by a foster parent and 37% by a relative), 63 children were transferred to a tribal program, 65 children aged out of the system, 88 were placed into a formal guardianship agreement, 50 were placed with a relative without guardianship, four were transferred to the Department of Corrections, and six were transferred to another agency.

Two children ran away and two children died in state care. The report did not include further information about the deaths or runaways. A request for more information from South Dakota Searchlight is pending with the Department of Social Services.

The department also reported the placement of 241 children in adoptive homes.