Ethanol in the Midwest

John Davis

Washington Group InternationalThe Midwest is getting three new ethanol production plants. Washington Group International has received $150 million worth of cost-reimbursable contracts from E85 Inc. for the construction of E85’s first three ethanol plants in the Midwest region.

E85 Inc.Washington Group will provide procurement, construction, commissioning, and start-up services for the facilities in Wahoo, Neb., and Red Oak and Council Bluffs, Iowa. Each of the facilities will be capable of producing 110 million gallons of ethanol per year. The corn-based ethanol will be blended with unleaded gasoline to create motor fuel, and the plant will produce commercially viable products in corn gluten feed and meal, corn germ, and wet and dry distiller grains with solubles.

Work on the Wahoo plant started in late September; work on the other two plants is planned to begin during the fourth quarter of 2007. A peak construction force of more than 300 is expected at each site. E85 will invest over $750 million in the three facilities.

E85, Ethanol, Facilities, Production

Oregon Biorefinery Looking at $500 M Financing Deal

John Davis

Officials with Inland Pacific Energy Center of Stanfield, Oregon are looking at a $504 million financing deal from an undisclosed European source.

This story from the East Oregonian news web site says the deal will go to finish a 96-million-gallon-per-year biodiesel plant, 120-million-gallon ethanol plant, and feed mill project:

Bob Doughty, project manager for the Inland Pacific Energy Center, said this week funding for the project is making good progress, but he’s being cautious about this proposal and has obtained some high-powered help to investigate it.

“The proposal is for $504 million in debt financing,” Doughty said. “It is proposed as a typical ‘draw down’ construction loan, which will roll into permanent financing.”

Doughty said he couldn’t disclose the name of the firm because negotiations still are under way on some details.

“I have investigated the proposal as best I can on my own and so far, it looks to be legitimate,” he said.

In addition, Doughty solicited help from Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., to have the appropriate federal agencies investigate the firm and its proposal thoroughly.

“This proposal is just what the project needs if it is legitimate and complies with all federal and state regulations,” Doughty wrote Smith Nov. 16. “If it is not legitimate, it will be a disaster.”

When done as projected in 2010, the nearly 500 acre facility will employ up to 600 people.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News

Ethanol Statistics Interviews RFA President

Cindy Zimmerman

Ethanol StatisticsEthanol Statistics, a Netherlands-based market research and business information publisher, recently went to the expert on ethanol to do a feature about the future of the industry.

Bob DinneenBob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association, is much more positive about ethanol in the United States because he knows why consumption has been lagging behind, because he knows what are and what aren’t showstoppers for the industry, and more importantly, because he probably knows more about upcoming legislation than anyone else. In an interview with Ethanol Statistics he ‘announced’: “It will be a busy 12 months with respect to legislation in Washington, I suspect.”

Ethanol Statistics also reports that Dinneen is pretty optimistic that the Senate will get an energy bill done by the end of the year, even though he thinks that “Washington is a dysfunctional place right now, in which it is far more easy to stop legislation than to pass legislation.”

Ethanol, News, RFA

Wind Turbine Factory Opening in Former Maytag Town

John Davis

Newton, Iowa, hit hard by the impending closing of the Maytag Appliance factory, is getting a second life as a company that builds wind turbines moves in.

This article from the Des Moines Register says TPI Composites of Warren, Rhode Island is putting in a 500-employee factory in Newton:

tpi.jpgTPI will begin construction next week on a 316,000-square-foot wind turbine blade factory.

The plant will make blades for General Electric Energy’s 1.5-megawatt wind turbines.

GE Energy says it has 6,500 of the turbines installed, making it one of the most popular units used today.

TPI chief executive Steven Lockard says the company’s facility on 33 acres near a new biodiesel plant in Newton will make turbine blades up to 150 feet long and weighing up to 20,000 pounds.

State and local officials revealed last summer that Newton was in the running for the plant, saying at that time that employment would be about 720 workers. The worker figure has since been scaled back.

The new jobs would help replace the nearly 1,800 positions lost over the past 18 months as operations wind down at the former Maytag headquarters and washer/dryer factory, now owned by Whirlpool Corp. Both facilities are scheduled to close by the end of the year.

In addition, the wind turbines blades will be made right where they are needed most as Iowa and other surrounding states become leaders in the wind energy business.

Wind

CO2 from Coal Burning to Help Grow Biodiesel

John Davis

Two Australian companies are joining forces to use the carbon dioxide from burning coal to grow algae… and then turn that algae into biodiesel.

This article on C|Net.com has more details about this truly green idea:

lincbioclean.jpgLinc Energy and Bio Clean Coal announced the creation of the company last week and said they would spend $1 million over the next year to build a prototype bioreactor.

The bioreactor will be designed to grow algae, using the carbon dioxide produced from processing coal for electricity as “food.” That process should dramatically reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions from burning coal, the company said.

The dried algae could be burned for power generation, turned into biodiesel or fertilizer.

A similar project in Arizona had to suspend operations earlier this year when it produced more algae than it could make into biodiesel.

Biodiesel

Focus on the Three Es

Cindy Zimmerman

E3 2007The University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus is hosting an energy, economic and environmental – or E3 – conference this week. E3 2007 will focus on the intersection between innovative technologies, visionary policies, environmental benefits, and emerging market opportunities as they relate to developments in the renewable energy sector.

One of the speakers for the Tuesday event is Dr. Mark Stowers, Vice President of Research and Development for POET. Dr. Stowers’ presentation, titled Integrated Corn Cellulose Biorefinery: Vision to Reality, will focus on the creation of a sustainable economic and environmental position for the future of transportation fuels by integrating corn-to-ethanol and cellulose-to-ethanol technologies.

Other Keynote Addresses will be given by the Honorable Eileen Claussen, President of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change and Richard Kelly, Chairman, President and CEO of Xcel Energy.

conferences, Ethanol, News

Stanford Scientists Look to Connect Wind Farms

John Davis

nawinds.jpgScientists at Stanford University are looking at a way to connect North America’s wind farms, making wind power less intermittent than its source.

This entry on the ZDNet blogs says they’re trying to find a way to literally connect the dots you see on the map (wind speeds at 80 meters in the year 2000) on the right:

This research about connecting wind farms has been led by Mark Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Cristina Archer, a consulting assistant professor at Stanford.

jacobsonarcher.jpgBesides providing a steady production of electricity, connecting wind farms would present other cost benefits by “reducing the total distance that all the power has to travel from the multiple points of origin to the destination point” and by combining all the power on a single transmission line.

Here is Archer’s somewhat optimistic conclusion. “Archer said that if the United States and other countries each started to organize the siting and interconnection of new wind farms based on a master plan, the power supply could be smoothed out and transmission requirements could be reduced, decreasing the cost of wind energy. This could result in the large-scale market penetration of wind energy — already the most inexpensive clean renewable electric power source — which could contribute significantly to an eventual solution to global warming, as well as reducing deaths from urban air pollution.”

Their findings are soon going to be published by the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology.

Wind

Biden Calls for Energy’s “Apollo Project”

John Davis

biden.jpgDemocratic presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden (D-Delaware) has unveiled a five-year, $50 billion energy plan akin to the Apollo project that put men on the moon during a campaign stop in Iowa.

This story in the Des Moines Register says Biden’s plan will use a combination of alternative energy production and conservation:

“The innovative capacity of the United States of America is so awesome that, I predict in the next 10 years we will once again be in circles where you’ll have no less light, no less heat, no less comfort in automobiles, but we’re going to see technology bloom in my administration,” he said.

Here are some key points to Biden’s plan:

• Increase fuel efficiency and use of alternative fuels Biden proposes raising fuel economy standards by one mile per gallon each year and investing in new technology such as lithium ion batteries which fuel many plug-in hybrid vehicles. He proposes requiring new vehicles to be flex-fuel capable and requiring gas station chains to sell alternative fuels.

• Invest in new energy technology

• Expand use of renewable energy

• Mandating that federal government buildings be more energy efficient and requiring the government to purchase 10 percent renewable electricity by 2010.

• Encourage Amercans to use energy efficiently

• Create “green jobs” in areas of developing alternative energy

Biodiesel, Ethanol, Government, News

Media Invited to Ride in Challenge X Vehicles

John Davis

challengex1.JPGGeneral Motors and the U.S. Department of Energy have invited the media to ride in the vehicles participating in the Challenge X Competition… a multi-year engineering competition that has 17 university teams from across North America in a real-world engineering experience to develop GM vehicles in the company’s global vehicle development process. The idea is the teams will create advanced propulsion technology systems that increase energy efficiency and reduce environmental impact through hybrid, plug-in, or fuel cell systems, powered by alternative fuels such as biodiesel, ethanol and hydrogen.

This story on the Autochannel.com says the media event will feature students from the 17 universities in Challenge X at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California on November 29th:

WHAT:
General Motors and the U.S. Department of Energy will host a media ride
and drive event featuring vehicles from the collegiate engineering
competition Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable Mobility. Program
officials also will reveal details for the next national competition
beginning mid-2008.

WHEN:
* Thursday, November 29, 2007
* Broadcast media: 5:30 to 8 a.m.
* Print media: 8 to 10 a.m.

WHERE:
Petersen Automotive Museum
6060 Wilshire Boulevard (at Fairfax Avenue)
Los Angeles, Calif. 90036

Media interested in attending need to R.S.V.P to:
Jeff Ormond, 248-824-8205, jormond@stratacomm.net
Kimberly DeClark, 202-441-0096, kdeclark@stratacomm.net

Biodiesel, Car Makers, Ethanol, Hydrogen, News

Iowa Hands Out $500K to Expand Biofuels Access

John Davis

iowaded.gifA state program administered by the Iowa Department of Economic Development has handed out $563,800 to 21 Iowa retailers installing pumps for E-85 and biodiesel fuel, terminals installing biodiesel storage tanks and blending equipment, and tank wagons for farm delivery having dedicated compartments for E-85 and biodiesel.

This press release from the Renewable Fuels Infrastructure Program Board (RFIPB) has more:

“These awards to expand access to E-85 ethanol and biodiesel demonstrate our state’s commitment to a greater use of renewable energy,” said Iowa Department of Economic Development Director Mike Tramontina. “Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for Iowa families to use renewable fuels, promote Iowa’s renewable energy economy and reduce our reliance on foreign oil.

Another $7.75 million in grants will be handed out by the RFIPB over the next couple of years to expand consumer access to E-85 and biodiesel. The next set of grants will be handed out in February, so owners or operators of retail motor fuel sites, biodiesel bulk storage terminals and tank wagons with dedicated compartments for renewable fuels are encouraged to get their applications for the grants in to the Iowa Department of Economic Development. You can get an application by clicking here.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News