Green Plains Renewable Energy to Start Year with New Ethanol Capacity

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Green Plains Renewable Energy Incorporated (NASDAQ:GPRE) (Omaha, Nebraska) continues to increase its ethanol capacity with the acquisition of the second-largest fuel ethanol plant in Minnesota.

GPRE has acquired the former BioFuel Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:BIOF) plant in Fairmont, Minnesota, for $53.3 million. The plant cost more than $150 million to construct.

The 113 million-gallon-per-year plant has been idle since September 2012, after high corn prices hit a number of ethanol producers with poor margins. With low corn prices and competitive ethanol prices, ethanol margins are becoming favorable again and plants are producing as much of the fuel as possible.

GPRE has begun hiring employees for the plant and expects it to be fully operational by January, 2014. The plant will employ about 58 workers.

The Fairmont plant is the second-largest fuel ethanol plant in Minnesota, behind Valero's (NYSE:VLO) 120 million-gallon-per-year plant in Welcome, Minnesota.

GPRE's largest plants are in Bluffton, Indiana, and Obion, Tennessee, each with a nameplate capacity of 120 million gallons per year. Two other large plants are in Central City, Nebraska, and Lakota, Iowa, each of which produces 100 million gallons per year.

Additional plants owned by GPRE are located in Shenandoah (65 million gallons per year); Superior, Iowa (60 million gallons per year); Ord, Nebraska (55 million gallons per year); Riga, Michigan (60 million gallons per year); and Fergus Falls, Minnesota (60 million gallons per year).

GPE also acquired a 44 million-gallon-per-year plant in Atkinson, Nebraska. The plant is being retrofitted to produce corn oil. It was expected to be in production by January, 2014.

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