Data center restrictions signed into SD law after push for incentives failed

Governor Kristi Noem signed a bill into law Tuesday, enacting new restrictions on data center development across South Dakota. This action follows the rejection by state lawmakers of earlier proposals that aimed to incentivize large data center construction. The new legislation targets data centers with a peak electrical demand of 10 megawatts or greater. Key provisions of the law require data center companies to cover the costs of their attributable electrical infrastructure and to ensure their water consumption does not strain local resources. Additionally, the law explicitly prohibits the state government from overriding local ordinances that limit, prohibit, or otherwise regulate data centers, thereby empowering local jurisdictions in their control over such developments.