Project dossier · Sioux Falls (Minnehaha County), South Dakota

Gemini Sioux Falls Technology Park Approved

500MW hyperscale campus on 164 acres next to Xcel's Split Rock Substation; received unanimous rezoning approval from Sioux Falls City Council on January 6, 2026.

Key facts

Operator: Gemini Data Center SD LLC
Size: 500 MW
Acres: 164
Location: Sioux Falls (Minnehaha County), South Dakota
Stage today: Approved

Source

What to do next

Next step: Approved — pivot from stopping it to a binding CBA: enforceable caps on noise, water and cost, plus a community benefit.

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What has happened so far (18 events)

2023-12-01financing
Gemini Data Center SD LLC acquired roughly 164 acres from Xcel Energy adjacent to Xcel Split Rock Substation in northeast Sioux Falls, laying groundwork for the proposed 500 MW Sioux Falls Technology Park. · source
2025-08-06vote
Sioux Falls City Council approved reclassifying the property from Tier III to Tier I growth-priority area, an unusual leapfrogging of the normal phased growth sequence. · source
2025-08-15announcement
SDPB reported LA-based Gemini Capital through Gemini Data Center SD LLC is seeking to build a hyperscale data center on land bought from Xcel Energy; project representative Kyle Peters confirmed an internal 500 MW capacity target contingent on state tax incentives. · source
2025-10-07vote
City Council voted 7-0 to annex approximately 164 acres east of Veterans Parkway for the Gemini project; city filed a notice of claim making Gemini responsible for future infrastructure costs if it walks away. · source
2026-01-06hearing
City Council held a nearly six-hour public hearing on the rezoning with overflow attendance; more than 50 speakers, mostly opposed, raised concerns about energy consumption, water use, electronic waste, and lack of community benefit. · source
2026-01-06rezoning
Council voted 7-0 to rezone roughly 145.6 acres from agricultural to light industrial with conditions: 200-ft setback, ~17 acres conservation, closed-loop cooling, domestic-only water use, city noise standards. · source
2026-01-08protest
Following the rezoning vote, opponents shouted expletives and criticism at the dais, prompting a five-minute recess; local coverage captured the outrage. · source
2026-01-10public-comment
Grassroots group Let Sioux Falls Vote launched a petition drive seeking to force a citywide referendum on the rezoning, needing 6,704 valid signatures by January 29. · source
2026-01-26coverage
Reporting confirmed Gemini completed its interconnection application and system impact study with Xcel Energy and is funding a facility study; a formal power agreement (subject to PUC review) still to be negotiated. · source
2026-01-29filing
Let Sioux Falls Vote submitted 378 petition sheets to the city clerk after more than 100 volunteers canvassed for 20 days in sub-zero temperatures. · source
2026-01-30ruling
City announced the referendum petition contained only 5,012 valid signatures, about 1,700 short of the 6,704 required; the petition was rejected and the rezoning remained in effect. · source
2026-02-04vote
SD House State Affairs Committee voted 9-3 to kill HB 1005, which would have granted data centers a 50-year sales-and-use tax exemption; an amendment offering a tiered 10-35 year exemption also failed. · source
2026-02-18vote
SD Senate committee advanced SB 135, the Data Center Bill of Rights for Citizens, requiring large data centers to cover costs tied to meeting their power demands including exit costs if a project falls through. · source
2026-02-19lawsuit
A1 Development Solutions (Gemini local consulting firm) sued its own project representative Kyle Peters (Gov. Noem son-in-law) alleging he covertly diverted the data-center client and others while still under contract. · source
2026-02-20vote
SD Senate passed SB 135 34-0 after striking language that would have banned state/local tax exemptions for data centers. · source
2026-03-02coverage
Gemini launched a public website for the Sioux Falls Technology Park describing Gemini Family Office role in land ownership, planning, permitting, and coordination. · source
2026-03-05vote
SD House passed SB 135 60-7 with amendment applying the law to data centers with 10 MW or greater peak electrical use, requiring those projects to cover power-demand costs. · source
2026-03-30incentive
Governor signed SB 135, the Data Center Bill of Rights, into law — statewide cost-protection rules for large data center power demands (10 MW+) applicable to the Gemini project eventual Xcel service agreement. · source

Find the paper trail

Find the paper trail (0 filed · 12 places to look)

State environmental permits

Backup generators, water withdrawal and stormwater are permitted by the state, usually earlier and in more detail than anything filed locally.

South Dakota DANR — Air Quality ProgramThe program page: which permits this state requires, and the office that issues them.
Search South Dakota DANR — Air Quality Program for this projectsearchThis state publishes no searchable permit database, so a written records request to the agency is the reliable route. Use this search only to find the right office.

County & town filings

The rezoning application, site plan, traffic and noise studies, staff report and every revision.

Search Sioux Falls (Minnehaha County) planning filingssearchPlanning departments post application files under many different names. Find the department, then ask the clerk for the application number — that number unlocks everything else.
Search Sioux Falls (Minnehaha County) property records / GISsearchThe parcel record names the buying LLC and the sale date, which is what ties an anonymous filing to an operator.

Utility & grid records

The electricity request is filed with the grid operator and the utility long before the town hears about it — and states the real load.

MISO (Midwest & Gulf) — interconnection queueRequested megawatts, queue position and target in-service date. The MW here is the real number; the one at the town meeting is often phase one.
Southwest Power Pool (Plains) — interconnection queueRequested megawatts, queue position and target in-service date. The MW here is the real number; the one at the town meeting is often phase one.
South Dakota Public Utilities Commission — docket searchSpecial contracts, large-load tariffs and rate cases are docketed here. Testimony and exhibits are public, and are usually more candid than the press release.
FERC eLibraryFederal filings: transmission agreements, interconnection service agreements, and co-location disputes.
Search the serving utility for a will-serve lettersearchThe will-serve or load-service letter is the utility's own written commitment. Ask the utility and the PUC for it by name — it is frequently the first document to exist.

Federal databases

Works anywhere, and covers the operator's record at its other sites.

EPA ECHO facility searchEvery federally-reported air, water and waste permit at a facility, plus its inspection and violation history. Search by address or draw a radius around the site.
EPA EnvirofactsThe same underlying records, queryable by county — useful for 'what else is permitted near this site' rather than one facility.
EPA Facility Registry ServiceResolves the shell LLC on a permit to the facility it belongs to. Worth a look when the filing name means nothing locally.

These are places to look, not evidence that anything has been filed. Links were checked on 2026-08-21; search links are queries, not records. What to ask for.

Around here

Minnehaha County community briefing — Under Reviewterm not documented
South Dakota briefing — rates, grid carbon, PUC contacts.

Other tracked projects in South Dakota

Applied Digital Deuel County (withdrawn) — Toronto (Deuel County) Withdrawn

Cite this page: GridWatch AI, “Gemini Sioux Falls Technology Park”, aigridwatch.com/projects/gemini-sioux-falls-sd, retrieved 2026-10-11.

As of August 2026 (2m ago) · changes weekly — re-check before citing

A working set of identified proposals a community can track, not a census — most of the country's activity is not in here yet. Pennsylvania is the exception: its rows are synced from PA DEP's own data-center permit tracker, so the state's coverage is close to complete and carries the permit trail with it. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to reporting or the governing body's own record and were read on that date; rows marked *unverified* have no source on record — a lead to check, not a fact to cite. **Stage is derived, not asserted.** *Hearing scheduled*, *Awaiting decision*, *Approved* and *Withdrawn* are computed from each row's milestone dates on every rebuild, so a hearing date that has passed stops reading 'scheduled'. Hearings get moved and projects re-file under new names — treat a scheduled date as the earliest to act by, and confirm with the clerk before relying on it. Leads are mined into data/project_candidates.json and promoted here only after a human reads a primary source.

Part of the data center project tracker — open data, CC BY 4.0 (JSON · CSV).