January 16, 2020
South Dakota

S.D. board OKs millions in refunds to wind farms

By Bob Mercer | KELO | Jan 15, 2020 | www.keloland.com

A South Dakota board approved more than $13 million of reinvestment payments to four wind projects Wednesday.

The state Board of Economic Development also made a loan of $787,500 to Advanced Ag Products. The Canton company blends feed for poultry and swine.

The reinvestment payments are allowed under a state law that lets projects get back some or all of their state sales and use taxes.

A related law requires the board to consider whether the project would have happened in South Dakota without the incentive.

The board discussed the loan and reinvestment payments behind a closed door Wednesday, then voted in open session to approve them without discussion.

Receiving reinvestment payments were:

Crowned Ridge Wind, in Grant and Codington counties, up to $4,234,777, but not to exceed 50 percent of state sales and use tax paid on eligible project costs;

Dakota Range III, in Roberts and Grant counties, up to $4,777,730, but not to exceed 50 percent of state sales and use tax paid on eligible project costs;

Sweetland Wind Farm, in Hand County, up to $3,523,343, but not to exceed 50 percent of state sales and use tax paid on eligible project costs; and

Wessington Springs Wind, in Jerauld County, up to $841,192 but not to exceed 50 percent of state sales and use tax paid on eligible project costs.

The board also approved a reinvestment payment of $941,962. but not to exceed the state sales and use tax paid on eligible project costs, to a company named EnviroFarm SDI. The company wasn’t shown in the South Dakota Secretary of State business registry and no further information was available Wednesday from the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2020/01/16/s-d-board-oks-millions-in-refunds-to-wind-farms/