Two Iowa Ethanol Plants Getting Wind Power

The Iowa Lakes Electric Cooperative (ILEC) is installing wind turbines at two wind farms located near ethanol plants.

ILEC, which serves customers in the counties of Buena Vista, Cherokee, Clay, Dickinson, Emmet, Kossuth, Palo Alto and Pocahontas, is building two separate wind farms near the 110 million-gallon Global Ethanol plant at Lakota and the 50 million-gallon Green Plains Renewable Energy ethanol plant near Superior.

Each site will include seven General Electric 1.5-megawatt turbines, which will be installed starting in early 2009. The two wind farms will produce approximately 71 million kilowatt hours of wind-generated electricity each year, which is the equivalent of serving almost 3,700 of ILEC’s member-owners’ farms and residential homes for one year.

The reason behind placing the wind turbines near ethanol is that the electric distribution infrastructure is already in place at those locations.

Locating both wind projects next to an existing ethanol plant that the cooperative currently serves takes advantage of the existing substation infrastructure without adding to transmission level connection, which can be extremely expensive.

The foundations are already in place and the cooperative hopes to have the wind turbines operating by the third quarter of 2009.

UAE Building Regions First Biodiesel Plant

The United Arab Emirates is building the first biodiesel plant in the GCC (Gulf Cooperative Council) region.

The first UAE-based biodiesel plant in the GCC region will produce 3 million gallons annually of environmentally-friendlier diesel to power vehicles, drastically reducing greenhouse gas emission due to its less toxic content, by next year.

I try to keep an eye on events like this since the UAE is an OPEC member country. And although 3 million gallons of biodiesel per year may not seem like a large quantity it is when you consider that the UAE only has a population of around 4.5 million people.

Source : Gulfnews

Did The IRL Snub American Ethanol Producers?

The Indy Racing League (IRL) announced on November 18, 2008 that the official ethanol supplier would be the Brazilian trade promotion agency APEX-Brasil. The move from an American fuel supplier to a Brazilian based supplier has caused quite a stir especially among ethanol supporters and corn growers.

I have waited to comment on this situation to give it a little time to let the facts come out. I thought that maybe Brazil wanted the deal more and simply out bid domestic producers but that doesn't appear to be the case.

The first hint that the IRL was on defensive about their decision was when they attempted to spin their justifications behind the decision in a recent press release.

"The ethanol producers recently notified the IndyCar Series that it would not be renewing the agreement for 2009 and beyond and EPIC is ceasing operation. No one from any other part of the American-based ethanol community stepped forward with a substantial proposal. Soon after, the IndyCar Series and APEX-Brasil reached a preliminary agreement. As part of that agreement, we plan on starting our 2009 season with American-produced ethanol.

The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) had been the fuel supplier up to this point. The part about EPIC ceasing operation is what caught my attention since it was announced that EPIC and Growth Energy, another ethanol industry group would be merging.

It was revealed in an article last week that there are American ethanol producers that are interested in sponsoring the series.

Several American ethanol producers outside the EPIC umbrella came forward to offer their services as a supplier during last week’s meetings, Angstadt said. But IRL officials think it’s too late to change course, plus motorsports marketers said independent American suppliers would have difficulty matching APEX-Brasil’s resources to feed money and promotional muscle into the series.

I know this is all happening after the deal with Brazil was made so too little too late righ?. Well, I don't know. According to the Desmoines Register, bids from American ethanol groups were not sought out.

Angstadt said he didn't specifically seek American ethanol groups as potential sponsors to counter the Brazilian bid.

Just looking at it from the outside it appears that the IRL snapped at a deal with Brazil before they fully explored the interest of the American ethanol industry to sponsor the series. Only time will tell how this decision will effect their business.

Biodiesel Stations Grow Reaching 1131

The number of biodiesel refueling locations across the country has grown since the middle of October by 113 locations to reach a total of 1131.

December 1, 2008 - 1131
October 11, 2008 - 1018

Please note that this number includes all biodiesel blend levels. For a complete list or to find locations nearest to you please visit the National Biodiesel Board.

Number Of E85 Pumps Continues To Grow

The number of E85 stations continues to grow reaching 1868 stations through the end of October. For the month 31 new locations were added.

December 1, 2008 - 1868
November 1, 2008 - 1837
October 1, 2008 - 1782
September 1, 2008 - 1743
August 1, 2008 - 1663
July 1, 2008 - 1627
June 1, 2008 - 1579
May 1, 2008 - 1560
April 1, 2008 - 1521
March 1, 2008 - 1501
February 1, 2008 - 1475
November 9, 2007 - 1378
May 7, 2007 - 1200

The current number plus the locations of all E85 stations can be found at the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition.