Black Hills Solar, Inc.

Black Hills Solar has built the strongest dedicated residential solar PV practice in western South Dakota, operating from 1950 Samco Road in Rapid City and serving the Black Hills region and a roughly 100-mile radius around it. The company was founded around 2018-2019 by Sonny, who holds NABCEP certification as both a PV system designer and an installation professional, and Black Hills Solar has since earned designation as a Tesla Premier Certified Installer, the highest tier Tesla reserves for its top-performing dealer partners. What stood out to our research team is the seriousness of the credentialing. NABCEP certification is widely considered the gold standard in residential solar, and the combination of Tesla Premier status with NABCEP-certified leadership is rare among small Plains-state installers. The company holds South Dakota electrical contractor license EC-3543, the Rapid City municipal electrical contractor license AEC3533, and a Wyoming master electrician license M-52663, meaning their installation crews can legally complete the electrical work and interconnection on every system they sell rather than subcontracting that portion to a third party. Their hardware lineup leans premium and diverse, with installations including Canadian Solar, Qcells, Solaria, Silfab, LG, Mission Solar, Jinko, LONGi, and REC Group panels paired with Tesla Powerwall and Powerwall 3 battery storage, Sol-Ark hybrid inverters, SolarEdge optimizers, and Enphase microinverter platforms. Prospective customers should understand that Black Hills Solar is a smaller, regionally focused outfit rather than a national brand. Their verified review base on third-party platforms like SolarReviews is still developing, and our research team noted that the bulk of the company's social proof comes from Google reviews and word-of-mouth in the Rapid City market rather than the deep aggregate review counts you would see in larger metros. Buyers in the Sioux Falls market on the eastern side of the state should also confirm coverage and lead-time before committing, since the company's installation reach is anchored in the Black Hills. With a composite score of 76.0 out of 100, Black Hills Solar stands as our top-ranked solar company in South Dakota for 2026.