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Ethanol Company Undeterred by Project Delays
US - Green Plains Energy of Omaha is undaunted by ethanol project cancellations and delays. It is continuing to grind corn at it's new 55 million-gallon plant at Superior. The company anticipates full production of the plant within a week's time."We're close to being ready," said Scott Poor, director of investor relations for Green Plains, which opened another 55 million-gallon ethanol plant last August at Shenandoah. Poor said the Superior plant employs 39 workers and will produce around the clock.
According to the DesMoinesRegister, Green Plains' continuance of its project comes after Verasun Energy of Brookings, S.D., has delayed opening plants at Hartley, Ia., Hankinton, N.D., and Welcome, Minn., because high corn prices have removed most of the profitability in ethanol production in recent weeks. Verasun has operating plants in Iowa at Albert City, Charles City, Fort Dodge and Dyersville.
Wednesday, Gold-Eagle Cooperative and CORN LP in Goldfield said they were dropping plans to build an ethanol facility at Wesley, near Algona, because investors had declined to commit money.
Poor said Green Plains has an advantage in corn markets because of its recent purchase of Great Plains Cooperative, whose seven elevators near the Superior ethanol plant give the company a vertical integration that other ethanol producers may lack.
"We're a different type of company," Poor said. "We can originate our own corn and should have a price advantage."
Ethanol plants have seen their profit margins erode or disappear during the spring and summer as corn topped $7 per bushel.
Ethanol prices have stabilized around $2.85 per gallon in Iowa and about $3 per gallon nationwide.
Iowa has 28 ethanol plants in operation and plans for at least a dozen other plants announced, including proposed facilities in Des Moines and Pleasantville. But development has slowed in the last year as corn prices have risen and ethanol prices have proved volatile.
View the DesMoinesRegister story by clicking here.
TheBioenergySite News Desk
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