Many people wonder what their community will get out of wind development, and in South Dakota, wind projects have generated more than energy. Important tax revenue for local schools, roads, and more have come from these projects.
In South Dakota, contributions of the projects came through nameplate capacity and production taxes, providing a tool for localities to offset the need for higher taxes. The nameplate capacity tax is based on the total energy generation of the project while the production tax assesses the actual production of a wind energy system.