If Governor Larry Rhoden really wants spend money on “strengthening our critical infrastructure” and “improving resilience”, maybe he should take his half-million misappropriation back from his gritty task force and spend that money and more on giving South Dakotans solar panels and batteries to ride out power outages.
The city of Ann Arbor, Michigan is doing just that via the Sustainable Energy Utility its residents voted for:
Electric utilities have been facing all kinds of problems recently. Data centers are gobbling up every megawatt-hour they can, rates are up, and extreme weather is causing reliability issues.
“About a year ago, we had a blackout here, and I lost a freezer full of meat and a refrigerator full of meat,” [resident Bruce] Schauer said.
The solution to a lot of those problems is what’s known as local power. Solar panels and batteries, for instance, can reduce demand on the grid, produce electricity cheaply, and they can supply power when the grid can’t.
The downside is that installing those solutions can cost consumers tens of thousands of dollars. That’s why the City of Ann Arbor has started installing solar panels and batteries for free.
“Having the power actually produced in our community is really valuable for resiliency,” said Shoshannah Lenski, the utility’s executive director.
This utility doesn’t replace the giant electric company that serves the city. It’s supplemental, and right now it’s funded by government grants and the city budget. In addition to solar panels and a battery, residents who need insulation or a new roof get that too — also for free [Caleigh Wells, “Free Solar Panels and Home Batteries? Ann Arbor’s Trying It Out,” Marketplace, 2026.08.14.
This decentralized power infrastructure benefits both residents who take advantage of the offer and the community at large:
…residents don’t own the panels or the batteries; they just pay a monthly fee for the privilege of having them.
“It’s like any other utility. We own the generating assets, and residents buy the power or the service and the benefits of it,” Lenski said.
And if there’s, say, a massive heatwave, the utility can pull energy from your battery to lighten the load on the grid and prevent an outage.
Lenski said this costs households about $600 per year. But it cuts electric bills by $700-$1,000 per year [Wells, 2026.08.14].
Instead of handing economic development/resiliency dollars to his cronies at the top, Governor Rhoden should refocus his attention on grassroots investments that directly help regular South Dakotans and have trickle-up benefits for everyone on the grid.
Related Reading:
- Brits are putting up more solar panels to escape the higher fossil-fuel prices brought to them by Trump’s war on Iran.
- “Around one-third of Australian houses now host solar arrays — the highest proportion in the world — and together they produce around 10% of the country’s power,” thanks to federal subsidies. Australia is now expanding those subsidies to include businesses.
- A Colorado farmer planted 3,276 solar panels that produce power he sells to his local utility company and shade that protects his flax and clary sage from withering heat.
Our community of about a hundred properties in New Mexico is entirely grid free so the idea of subsidizing any utility grifting, avaricious utility is deeply offensive.
Here are the specs on a $34,000 installed solar system: 12.60 kW Off-Grid Solar System w Upgraded Inverter
• (20) 630 Watt (STC), Bifacial Monocrystalline Solar Panels, Industrial Grade.
• (1) 18kW Inverter, UL 1741 Certified, Nema 4x, Includes DC disconnect. Capable of online monitoring if connected to the internet.
• (5) Batteries, Lithium Iron Phosphate, 5.1 kWh each, 48 Volt DC.
• (1) Battery Control Cabinets, IP-55, Insulated & Temperature Controlled.
• (1) Manual AC Disconnect Switch (Customer connection point).
• Inverter AC Output, Nominal: 18 kW, 208/240 Volt, Split Phase, 60 Hz.
• Battery Bank Capacity: 25.5 kWh
• Inverter capable of handling generator and/or grid input for additional power source.
• All components listed above to be mounted on (2) galvanized steel frameworks and are prewired together according to National Electrical Code (NEC). Unit assembled, programmed & tested prior to shipping from factory.
I should add that the above quote and PV system is intended for a 4000 square foot house and may not reflect an average need. 5000 or 6000 watts is perfectly adequate for a smaller home even in a horrendous climate like that in South Dakota.
Lar, are you still involved with that Mr. Poole fellow who is spiffying up the Stampmill, and that he and his young gal may want to dabble in some solarization too?
Lead is where if two people get divorced they’re still father and daughter and unfortunately (or not), Lead barely has a pot to piss in because the bulk of its taxpayers are lining up with their walkers or lying on gurneys awaiting their turns for the various cemeteries splattered throughout town. The residents are obese, white retirees from somewhere else who fled cultural diversity in their own states taking advantage of South Dakota’s regressive tax structure. Too many Lead residents are local high school dropouts who married their sisters, are strung out on meth somewhere and are only paying taxes through video lootery, Mickey’s malt liquor, cigarettes and fuel.
Mini splits like motel rooms have work really well in open floor plans with adequate systems so Cory might be on to something here.
They don’t have to buy them.. just pay the tariffs and use net metering. Electricity is so cheap in South Dakota that even net metering won’t make it economically feasible. But even a modest subsidy would make it viable.