Aberdeen Energy and Glacial Lakes Energy broke ground Thursday on a state-of-the-art 100 million gallon ethanol biorefinery near Mina, South Dakota. To produce the 100 million gallons of ethanol and 288,000 tons of distillers grains annually, Aberdeen Energy will consume 36 million bushels of corn.

Equity for the new facility was raised entirely from South Dakotans during a three-day equity drive in August.

Fagen, Inc., the Granite Falls, Minnesota design-build contractor, is overseeing the construction and incorporating a process design provided by ICM, Inc. of Colwich, Kansas. The biorefinery is expected to begin operations in 2008.