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South Dakota, United States

319GWh
every year, from one 325-watt panel on each of 732,462 buildings.

What that is equal to

🏠 30.4 thousand
homes powered for a year
at the US average of 10,500 kWh per household
🌍 118 thousand t
CO₂ avoided annually
displacing grid power at 0.371 kg CO₂e/kWh (EPA eGRID)
🚗 25.7 thousand
cars taken off the road
an average passenger vehicle emits 4.6 t CO₂e a year
⚡ 912 million
electric vehicle miles
at roughly 0.35 kWh per mile

The pay-off

It pays for itself here. A panel on this roof delivers electricity at 8.8¢ a kWh against a local price of 15.7¢ — 44% cheaper than local power. The install is repaid after 13.6 years, inside the panel's 25-year life.
8.8¢ vs 15.7¢
cost per kWh: this panel vs the grid
levelised over 25 years including 0.5%/yr degradation
$659 million
to fit every building here
732,462 panels at $900 installed each
13.6 years
to break even
saving $50.2 million a year area-wide at today's price

Assumes $900 to install one 325 W panel — hardware, mounting, microinverter, electrical work, labour and permitting — repaid only by the electricity it avoids buying. No subsidies, tax credits, net-metering premium, financing cost or future price rises are counted, and the figure is undiscounted. Electricity price is the SD residential average (EIA, May 2026). A single panel is unusually expensive per watt because it carries a whole array's fixed costs, which is why these numbers look worse than rooftop solar generally does.

How this is calculated

Buildings with roofs732,462
×  Panel rating325 W
×  Annual yield per panel here435.6 kWh
Annual generation319,028,059 kWh
Assumptions and limitations
  • Yield is specific to this location: 435.6 kWh per panel per year, from NASA POWER climatology transposed onto a tilted roof plane. The same panel makes roughly 596 kWh in Phoenix and 265 kWh in Anchorage.
  • Assumes a south-facing roof at a typical residential pitch, with a ~22% total system loss for soiling, shading, wiring, inverter, and heat.
  • Counts every above-ground structure with a footprint of at least 20 m², so garages and outbuildings are excluded but barns and sheds of real size are not. Building data is machine-derived and imperfect.
  • No account is taken of roof orientation, obstructions, structural condition, or whether the owner wants a panel.

Counties in South Dakota

Minnehaha County · 39.6 GWhPennington County · 26.8 GWhLincoln County · 13.1 GWhBrown County · 12.6 GWhBrookings County · 11.6 GWhMeade County · 10.6 GWhCodington County · 8.96 GWhLawrence County · 8.76 GWhYankton County · 7.07 GWhBeadle County · 6.92 GWhDavison County · 6.25 GWhRoberts County · 5.4 GWhTurner County · 5.55 GWhUnion County · 5.26 GWhHutchinson County · 5.24 GWhLake County · 5.14 GWhHughes County · 5.06 GWhCuster County · 5.33 GWhCharles Mix County · 4.94 GWhButte County · 4.82 GWhSpink County · 4.5 GWhDay County · 4.23 GWhGrant County · 3.93 GWhBon Homme County · 4.1 GWhTripp County · 4.11 GWhFall River County · 4.2 GWhClay County · 3.88 GWhKingsbury County · 3.74 GWhMoody County · 3.53 GWhMcCook County · 3.56 GWhGregory County · 3.49 GWhHamlin County · 3.32 GWhDeuel County · 3.15 GWhHand County · 3.25 GWhBrule County · 3.21 GWhMarshall County · 2.96 GWhEdmunds County · 3.05 GWhClark County · 2.95 GWhWalworth County · 2.91 GWhOglala Lakota County · 2.97 GWhPerkins County · 2.87 GWhLyman County · 2.75 GWhMcPherson County · 2.6 GWhCorson County · 2.39 GWhTodd County · 2.43 GWhDewey County · 2.33 GWhPotter County · 2.3 GWhAurora County · 2.26 GWhHanson County · 2.19 GWhMiner County · 2.13 GWhDouglas County · 2.16 GWhFaulk County · 1.87 GWhSanborn County · 1.84 GWhJackson County · 1.8 GWhJerauld County · 1.68 GWhCampbell County · 1.66 GWhSully County · 1.67 GWhHaakon County · 1.69 GWhBennett County · 1.62 GWhHarding County · 1.58 GWhStanley County · 1.47 GWhHyde County · 1.36 GWhZiebach County · 1.28 GWhMellette County · 1.22 GWhJones County · 1.07 GWhBuffalo County · 733 MWh

Metro areas in South Dakota

Sioux Falls, SD · 61.8 GWhSioux City, IA-NE-SD · 37.2 GWhRapid City, SD · 37.4 GWhAberdeen, SD · 15.7 GWhWatertown, SD · 12.3 GWhBrookings, SD · 11.6 GWhHuron, SD · 8.6 GWhSpearfish, SD · 8.76 GWhMitchell, SD · 8.44 GWhYankton, SD · 7.07 GWhPierre, SD · 6.53 GWhVermillion, SD · 3.88 GWh

Places like South Dakota

Maine · 350 GWhMontana · 374 GWhNorth Dakota · 279 GWhNew Hampshire · 256 GWhVermont · 164 GWhWyoming · 209 GWh