Manitoba’s Largest Wind Farm Goes Online

Joanna Schroeder

Manitoba, Canada is now the proud province of a new wind farm. The 138 megawatt (MW) St. Joseph Wind project has been completed by the Pattern Energy Group LP (Pattern) and should generate enough power to meet the electricity needs of 50,000 homes in the Manitoba area. Pattern and Manitoba Hydro have entered into a 27-year power purchase agreement for the sale of energy produced by the project. To celebrate the accomplishment, the Manitoba Minister of Innovation, Energy and Mines, David Chomiak spoke during an opening ceremony.

“This wind farm is one of the largest in the country and will produce enough energy to power 50,000 homes,” said Minister Chomiak. “It showcases our province’s dedication to creating renewable energy and continuing to build Manitoba Hydro. This project has also provided a solid boost to the local economy creating new opportunities and jobs.”

Over the life of the wind farm, Pattern will pay an estimated $38 million to landholders and an additional $44 million in local municipal taxes with two-thirds of the tax revenue dedicated to education and one-third committed to host communities. This is a significant revenue boast for the area.

Mike Garland, Pattern’s CEO said, “The St. Joseph wind project created 350 jobs during its construction, 75 percent of which came from Manitoba, with another 20 percent from other Canadian provinces, in addition to the permanent crew of 10 workers we hired to operate and maintain the project. The success of this project is due to the support and commitment of all those involved, including the Province of Manitoba, Mortenson Canada, local landowners and the great community of St. Joseph. By working together to harness the steady winds of St. Joseph, we have created jobs, revenue, and a significant source of clean and renewable energy for Manitobans.”

“We commend the excellent and timely work of Mortenson Canada, which completed the construction of this world-class wind project in just under a year – an extraordinary timeline for a project of this size and scope, especially considering the harsh winter conditions,” added Garland.

Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger set the first group of turbines in motion back in January and today’s event marked the milestone of the project becoming fully operational.

Electricity, Wind

Learn How to Improve Ethanol Plant Margins

Joanna Schroeder

Gas prices may be on the rise resulting in a great market for ethanol, but ethanol plant margins are still tight. You can learn hands-on strategies to improve your ethanol plant margins by attending the fifth Process Optimization Seminar in Houston, Texas on April 27-29th. The seminar is sponsored by several leading ethanol industry companies including Phibro Ethanol Performance Group, Fermentis, Novozymes, and Fremont Industries.

Steve Rust, the Marketing Director for Fremont Industries, has been involved in these seminars since their inception four years ago. While Rust explains they have been wildly successful, after receiving feedback from the participants, the team decided to move away from the Midwest and head to Houston where plant managers, general managers and operations managers can get an even more hands on experience. The group will be visiting a refinery as well as visiting SGS labs.

Listen to my interview with Steve Rust here: Steve Rust Discusses Process Optimization

Rust said past seminars have been a series of 100/200 level classes designed for operations managers to understand why they do what they do. Following the seminars, attendees approached the instructors asking for more in-depth sessions. As a result, this seminar will focus less on operations and more on the financial aspects on how to manage plant operations but with a focus on high-level managers. The sessions will focus more on the expertise of the sponsor companies and how they can aid the plant in becoming more profitable.

Fremont Industries has an expertise in water treatment and today has over 40 ethanol plants that they work with. Rust said that where water treatment technologies can really benefit a plant is in keeping costs down because the plant is running at peak efficiency. Rust said there are exchangers and pre-treatment equipment that can help keep a plant’s costs down and these will be discussed during the event.

I asked Rust why this this event is so unique and so important for the industry. “What we really try to do is respect the time away from the plant because we know plants are busy,” said Rust. He said that they moved the event to Houston because they knew that they wanted to give the attendees some extra value and things like the tours coupled with the seminar sessions would give them tools they could take back to the plant, implement immediately, and see their profits increase.

Registration is limited and the early bird registration deadline is April 15th. Visit the Process Optimization Seminar website for more information and for online registration.

Audio, biofuels, Education, Ethanol

POET Launches Corn Oil Product Called Voila

Joanna Schroeder

POET has announced it is now selling corn oil extracted from its ethanol plants for use by the biodiesel industry to produce biodiesel. Known as Voilà, the company’s patent-pending technology was debuted at its plant located in Hudson, South Dakota. POET plans to add the technology to its other plants over the course of the year. Eventually, POET believes its plant will produce 500 million pounds per year – enough corn oil to produce 60 million gallons of biodiesel per year.

The company says its corn oil is different than other corn-ethanol plants’ corn oil due to the low-energy BPX fermentation process (cold cook) they use. This process eliminates heat from the process and when the corn oil is captured at the back-end of the process, it is a higher quality product with a lower amount of free fatty acids.

“The corn kernel is an amazing thing,” said POET CEO Jeff Broin. “As we continue research into more and more co-products, our ability to displace foreign oil continues to grow. By selling Voilà to biodiesel producers, we’re providing the feedstock for even more renewable fuel production.”

Scott Weishaar, POET Vice President of Commercial Development added, “Not only is it high-quality corn oil, it is a consistent product, which is important to biodiesel producers. Our customers have been very pleased with Voilà.”

In addition to producing biodiesel, corn oil can also be used as a component in feed production. In the future, POET plans on introducing a new branded distillers product that incorporates its corn oil as an ingredient.

 

Biodiesel, corn, Distillers Grains, POET

UNICA Appoints Two in DC

Cindy Zimmerman

The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) today announced the appointment of David Thomas as Chief Lobbyist and Leticia Phillips as Representative for North America, both based at UNICA’s Washington, D.C. office. They replace Joel Velasco, who left UNICA in January to become Senior Vice-President for External Relations at California Biotech Company Amyris.
UNICA
A seasoned strategist with almost two decades of experience in the Washington public policy arena, Thomas is a former Deputy Director of Legislative Affairs for Vice-President Al Gore and Director of Congressional Relations at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). More recently, he served as Chief of Staff for U.S. Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren. As a Senior Strategist with Washington lobbying firm Mehlman, Vogel, Castanetti, Thomas was directly involved with UNICA’s 2010 campaign against U.S. tariffs on imported ethanol.

In her continuing role overseeing Institutional and Government Affairs for North America since 2008, Phillips will now lead UNICA’s efforts as its Representative for North America on a variety of fronts in which UNICA is currently engaged.

Carolina Lessa will remain in her role as coordinator of communications and media relations efforts in North America.

Source: UNICA news release

Brazil, Ethanol, Ethanol News, UNICA

E85 Station Opens in Atlanta

Cindy Zimmerman

Protec Fuel along with AJ Energy announces the opening of a new E85 site at a BP station in the Buckhead area of Atlanta, Georgia to provide the choice for flexible fuel vehicle (FFV) owners in the area.

AJ Energy partnered with Protec Fuel to offer E85 and used Protec’s turnkey E85 infrastructure program. “As a company, we are very excited to be able to be part of the energy revolution,” noted owner of the BP facility, Ayad Jaber. “Alternative fuels such as E85 are safer for the environment, more cost efficient for the consumer, and an all-around better energy source than traditional fuels.”

“Protec Fuel is excited to work with Ayad and his team to make E85 available to more Atlanta flexible fuel vehicle (FFV) drivers. We would like to inform all FFV owners of the benefits of E85 versus regular unleaded gasoline and of the cost benefit to using this product,” said Protec Fuel’s Managing Partner, Todd Garner.

“It has been a pleasure working with Protec and we appreciate the strides they have made to help bring cleaner, safer, and more cost efficient energy sources to the Atlanta market place and we hope our great customers will embrace a more environmentally friendly fuel,” added Jaber.

E85, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Grading The Secretary of Ag’s Mid Term

Chuck Zimmerman

What grade did you give U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack for his mid-term? I think the results of our last ZimmPoll show how difficult it is to please everyone. We asked the question, “What mid-term grade would you give Ag Sec. Vilsack?” The votes for an A and an F were the highest and equal. 24% give him an A while 24% give him and F. Those grades are followed by 20% giving him a B, 19% a D and 13% a C. If you feel strongly about a certain grade feel free to leave a comment about why. We love getting your opinions and comments lets you freely express them!

So, let’s look at our newest ZimmPoll question, “How should farmers respond to critical documentaries such as Food Inc.?” The results of this question will be published at the start of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference next week and I think the results will be of real interest to agrimarketers attending. If you have a different idea than one of the choices we’ve presented then please feel free to comment. Thanks your your participation.

And if you have any questions you want to suggest for future ZimmPolls please let us know.

ZimmPoll is sponsored by Rhea+Kaiser, a full-service advertising/public relations agency.

ZimmPoll

Proposed Indiana Biodiesel Plant Gets Green Light

John Davis

A planned $165 million biodiesel and soybean-processing facility in Indiana got a boost when a local commission approved the company building a storage facility so its air quality permit will stay current.

This article from the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel says Ultra Soy of America got approval to put up a 21,450-square-foot steel storage building at its site near South Milford:

Gary Pipenger, founder of Ultra Soy of America, said the company needs to start building at 7500 County Road 700 South near South Milford before April 15 or its air quality permit will expire.

The building will have no plumbing or sewer and only a few lights. It will not be used soon, and is being built solely so the company can complete the project before the permit from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management Air Quality office reaches its five-year limit.

This means the project, now estimated to cost around $4 million, will need to be completed in two years. Ultra Soy will also build a parking lot and stone drive to connect it to the road.

Ultra Soy laid the groundwork to build the biodiesel and soybean crushing facility in 2007.

The plant was expected to produce 60 million gallons of biodiesel fuel a year, eventually doubling production to 120 million gallons annually, making it one of the largest facilities in America.

Company officials say they were on track in 2009 to get all the funding done but were sidetracked when the economy went south.

Biodiesel

Recovering Ethanol From Waste Water

Joanna Schroeder

R3 Fusion, Inc. has announced the availability of its commercial system for recovering ethanol from waste scrubber water. The technology is coined the SPaCeRTM. The system is designed to process 50 gallons per minute of scrubber waste generated from a 50 million gallon per year (MMGY) ethanol plant and the first modular system will be fully operational this month.

Dr. Roshan Jachuck, the inventor of the SPaCeRTM technology and CTO of R3 Fusion said, “We estimate that over $400 million of ethanol can be recovered each year from the waste water in U.S. ethanol facilities alone. The unique engineering and process technology incorporated in our systems provides, to our knowledge, the most economical, energy efficient means available to capture that critical element of our national energy equation.”

The SPaCeRTM technology was developed to address the increasing worries about the supply of fresh water. According to R3 Fusion, less than 1 percent of the planet’s water is fresh water and available for human use. Therefore, the company believes the need to reuse, recycle and remediate contaminated and waste water steams is essential, and they along with other companies worldwide are developing technologies to extend the water supply.

“We are very excited about the launch of our SPaCeRTM technology and the enormous implications we believe it will have on global water supplies,” concluded Keith Blakely, CEO of R3 Fusion. “The interconnectedness of our water, energy, and environmental challenges is well-established and a system like ours that addresses all three simultaneously is, we believe, of great importance to the future of our planet.”

biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News

American Ethanol Heads to Texas

Joanna Schroeder

American Ethanol is heading to Texas this weekend for the NASCAR Nationwide Series race, the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at the Texas Motor Speedway on April 8th beginning at 8:30 pm EST on ESPN2. While the ethanol logo is on all the race cars, eyes will be on the No. 9 Toyota Camry driven by Kenny Wallace, who is sponsored for the season by the ethanol industry in partnership with the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA).

“It is an honor to be chosen as an American Ethanol spokesperson,” said Wallace who drives for RAB Racing. “I am very passionate about this subject and excited to spread true knowledge about American Ethanol throughout the United States. I’m proud and excited to go to Texas with new sponsor American Ethanol, and most of all I’m looking forward to getting my 10th NASCAR Nationwide Series win.”

During the entire 2011 season, all three of NASCAR’s national touring series will be racing on Sunoco Green E15, a blend of 15 percent corn-based ethanol and 85 percent racing fuel.

NCGA President Bart Schott noted, “Having Wallace as the driver is a great benefit. The RAB Racing team is racing very competitively this season and they are proving to be great proponents for Sunoco Green E15. Kenny understands the important economic and environmental contributions of the nation’s ethanol producers and family corn farmers. As a passionate and media-savvy spokesman, he is helping us reach millions of driving consumers with a positive message about domestic ethanol.”

As gas prices continue to rise across the nation, the ethanol industry stresses that ethanol is a commercially-viable alternative that America currently has to strengthen the nation’s energy independence. Studies have shown that for every $1 sent overseas for oil, $1.55 leaves the U.S. economy. The industry is using NASCAR as a platform to expose 80 million people to the benefits of ethanol while linking millions of American farmers with the sport of NASCAR.

“We’re proud that American Ethanol’s partnership with the RAB Racing team will help educate NASCAR fans about ethanol’s benefits for our nation’s environment, economy, and energy security,” concluded Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy. “There’s no sport more American than NASCAR and there’s no fuel more American than ethanol.”

American Ethanol, Ethanol, Racing

Kansas Ethanol Producers Visit DC

Cindy Zimmerman

Growth EnergyA delegation of six Kansas ethanol supporters are in Washington D.C. this week for a series of meetings with members of Congress.

Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis welcomed the group’s visit. “Kansas is a crucial, steadfast ally for the American ethanol industry, and we are pleased that so many Kansans have made the trip to Washington to educate their members of Congress about the ways ethanol contributes to the state and our country,” said Buis.

The six member group includes Steve McNinch of Western Plains Energy, Greg Krissek of ICM, Inc., Tom Willis of Conestoga, Mike Erhart and Monte Abell of Prairie Horizon, and Mike Chisalm of Kansas Ethanol. “It’s crucial that our representatives in Washington understand the benefits of ethanol – that it creates badly needed jobs in Kansas, provides an excellent return on taxpayer investment by keeping gas prices down, and contributes to our rural economies,” said Greg Krissek, ICM Director of Governmental Affairs, and a member of the Growth Energy board of directors. “Ethanol is not a ‘someday’ fuel – it’s here today, making our nation and our economy stronger. We can do even more by opening up the fuels market and giving consumers access to more ethanol.”

During their visit, the group will meet with Sens. Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Reps. Lynn Jenkins (KS-2), Kevin Yoder (KS-3), Mike Pompeo (KS-4) and Tim Huelskamp (KS-1), to help raise awareness about ethanol and its role in reducing our nation’s dependence on foreign oil, creating jobs, keeping gas prices down and strengthening our economy. The meetings will focus on Growth Energy’s proposal to reform the transportation market by developing the infrastructure to deliver ethanol to consumers. During their visit, the delegation will also attend a Policy Issues briefing conducted by Growth Energy staff and meet with the Democratic and Republican staffs of the House Agriculture Committee.

Ethanol, Government, Growth Energy