Breakfast was in the trade show here at the ACE convention.
Here’s the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (our sponsor) booth.
EPIC’s got Paul Dana replica toy cars available at their booth which you can get by leaving a donation for the Paul Dana Memorial Fund.
The American Coalition for Ethanol convention got kicked off yesterday but I didn’t get in until late. I’m doing a little bit of catch up this morning from an event I was attending earlier this week. By this afternoon I should have some good audio for you since we’ll have an opening general session this afternoon featuring Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty.
If you’d like to see what’s going on there is a photo album online that you’re welcome to visit.
Hello from the American Coalition for Ethanol convention in St. Paul, MN. Before I get into some ethanol coverage though I’ve got a biodiesel story for you.
You might remember that I went out to Burbank earlier this year with Joe Jobe, National Biodiesel Board and Gene Hemphill, New Holland to visit Jay Leno’s Garage. While we were there Jay shot one of his website videos with Joe and they talked a lot about biodiesel. That video is now online for your viewing pleasure.
I think you’ll find that Jay is a very big fan of renewable fuels.
Ohio has been laying a big, fat goose egg when it came to ethanol production, but that could all change soon… in a big way.
The Buckeye State has been lagging behind many of its Midwestern neighbors in the number of ethanol plants, such as Indiana and Illinois with 10 plants each, producing 1.1 billion gallons of ethanol for the two states. And other big ethanol producers Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska boast more than a dozen plants each. But this story in the Cincinnati Post says things are going to swing the other way for the ethanol importer Ohio:
Up to five plants should begin producing the corn-based fuel next year, said Jamie Gentry, agribusiness liaison with the Ohio Department of Development.
“We should go from zero gallons produced to 394 million almost over night,” Gentry said.
Five plants are under construction in Allen, Coshocton, Darke, Fayette and Putnam counties. They are expected to create about 330 jobs. A sixth plant is under consideration in Harrison County.
A potential big producer of Ohio ethanol is Greater Ohio Ethanol, LLC (see its proposed plant picture on the left), which received $85.5 million in state incentives to get going. It’s part of $450 million in government loans and state-backed incentives to get the industry off the ground in Ohio.
The ethanol plants are also getting some help from federal and state environmental regulators which eased some pollution limits while the refineries get started.
Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines has agreed to buy 15 million gallons of biodiesel this year… and another 18 million gallons a year for the next four years… to run some of its cruise ships from Seattle-based biodiesel giant Imperium Renewables.
This story in the Seattle Times says Royal Caribbean has four ships based out of the Pacific Northwest port:
“We believe this is the single-largest long-term biodiesel sales contract to an end user in the U.S.,” the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Imperium also said it had reached an agreement to purchase Royal Caribbean Cruises’ 7 percent stake in the Grays Harbor facility.
As you might remember, Imperium is set to open a 100-million-gallon-a-year biodiesel plant soon at Grays Harbor, Washington… the largest of its kind in the country.
Indiana Clean Energy, LLC is getting ready to break ground on a $90 million, 80-million-gallon-per-year biodiesel plant in the next couple of months (see the artist’s rendering).
The project is the first biodiesel plant for the Frankfort, IN-based company and comes nearly two years after the company was founded. This story on the WTHR-TV web site says it came down to location, location, location:
The site was chosen because it is close to ADM and it has good access to railroad transportation and utilities. ADM will serve as the plant’s primary supplier.
Gingrich said the company is open to forming working relationships with other area growers.
“Farmers are glad to see projects like this coming along,” he said.
The company will hire Clinton County residents during and after construction for a variety of positions in sales, administration and line production when operations begin, Gingrich said.
The groundbreaking will mark more than a year of permit issues Indiana Clean Energy went through to get to this point.
The 20th annual American Coalition for Ethanol conference and trade show is underway in St. Paul, MN.
The event officially kicked off Tuesday after the golf tournament with a presentation by the CityHome O2 Diesel progran on how the ethanol industry can make positive headlines in our nation’s third largest city – Chicago.
After proven success in several communities, CityHome™ is focusing efforts on Chicago and the more than 2,000 buses that Chicago Public Schools rely on every day. Success in Chicago means great news for the ethanol industry because every bus will use about eight percent ethanol. This significantly reduces hazardous emissions and creates a better environment for children-and all members of the community. This cleaner burning fuel is even compatible with other clean air technologies and equipment.
More on the ACE Conference coming soon as Chuck is on his way there.
Usually, when you see the big wheel at the fairgrounds, it’s carrying people to dizzying heights with bright colored lights. But this year, the Iowa State Fair has another big wheel… this time, powering all those rides.
MidAmerican Energy has put up a 133-foot wind turbine at the fair’s Wind Energy Education Center. This article in Wallace’s Farmer says it will supply a quarter of the energy for the fair:
“The State Fair is traditionally a place where Iowans have come to see and learn about something for the first time,” says Allan Urlis, spokesman for MidAmerican. “Wind power is an important technology to the future of Iowa.” A temporary education center will stand next to the turbine during the 2007 fair. A more permanent structure is planned in the future.
Since 2003, Iowa has become third in the nation in wind energy generation behind Texas and California.
The turbine at the fairgrounds is half the size of MidAmerican’s 323 wind farm turbines now in operation in parts of northern and western Iowa. Nonetheless, the turbine will generate the equivalent of nearly one quarter of the fair’s annual electricity needs, or roughly the amount of energy needed to power the entire fairgrounds, including the Midway rides—during the fair.
Wind energy is on the rise in the Hawkeye State. Last month, the Iowa Utilities Board approved six new wind farm locations expected to add 540 megawatts of wind energy by the end of next year. Iowa’s total wind energy production will be up to 1,000 megawatts, enough to light up 336,000 homes.
In an effort to cut down on global warming, California regulators have stepped up the amount of ethanol to be blended in the state’s fuel supply. Currently, the state puts ethanol in gasoline at a six percent rate. That goes up to 10 percent in 2010.
This article from the San Francisco Chronicle points out the problem with that: not much of it is homegrown for the Golden State. It has to be imported from the Midwest:
The great boom in ethanol plant construction that swept the nation’s farm belt in recent years has barely touched the Golden State. Biorefineries here make only 8.6 percent of all the ethanol California uses. Other states supply the rest, shipped by rail over the Sierra or through the Southern California desert.
The California Air Resources Board this summer decided to raise the amount of ethanol that oil companies can blend into the gasoline they sell here. By 2013 – after the new rules kick in – California’s ethanol use is expected to jump more than 78 percent, to 1.7 billion gallons per year.
Experts expect the ethanol industry in California to take off to meet that demand. In the meantime, Midwest ethanol is in ample supply. The biggest issue remains getting it there.
Canadian Bioenergy becomes the first company in Canada to become BQ-9000 qualified… a voluntary fuel quality assurance program, adopted by the National Biodiesel Board and the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association.
This release from the National Biodiesel Board praises the Western Canada biodiesel distributor’s achievement:
“Quality is everything — it’s always been our top priority and the BQ-9000 process was a natural evolution for our operations,” said Alex Russell, Assistant Director of Fuel Operations at Canadian Bioenergy. “Our customers, from coast to coast, have consistently told us how critical it is to their success, as end-users and as resellers.” Russell has spent the past two years developing quality systems which adhere to the BQ-9000 protocols.
Leland Tong, chairman of the National Biodiesel Accreditation Commission (NBAC) that oversees BQ-9000, echoes those sentiments. “We’re constantly hearing that more and more consumers in both the U.S. and Canada are making it a priority to seek out biodiesel from BQ-9000-accredited companies,” he said. “By completing this process, Canadian Bioenergy sets the mark for other companies in Canada. We anticipate that it will be one of many Canadian companies to come.”
The program covers storage, sampling, testing, blending, shipping, distribution and fuel management practices.
