U.S. Midwest on Track for $8.4 Billion in Second-Quarter Project Starts

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Midwest region of the U.S. has more than $4.8 billion in projects that are planned to kick off in the second quarter of this year. The region consists of Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. Iowa and Minnesota, with $1.87 billion and $1.81 billion in planned projects, respectively, are neck-and-neck for the region's top spot in terms of project value.

The Power Industry, with $1.7 billion in planned project starts, leads the region, followed by the Chemical Processing Industry, with $1.5 billion.

Click on image at right for a breakdown by industry of planned project starts in the U.S. Midwest.

The highest-value Power Industry project planned to begin during the quarter is an emissions control retrofit at Otter Tail Power Company's (Big Stone, South Dakota) coal-fired power plant in Big Stone. The project has an estimated total investment value (TIV) of $494 billion and is on track to be completed in early 2016.

Although the largest individual Power Industry project start involves a coal-fired plant, wind power represents the highest-value aggregate fuel type in the industry. Industrial Info is tracking wind power projects with a combined TIV of approximately $750 million.

In the Chemical Processing Industry, Iowa Fertilizer Company LLC (Fort Madison, Iowa), a subsidiary of Orascom Construction Industries (Cairo, Egypt), plans to kick off major plant and unit additions at its fertilizer plant in Fort Stone. An abundance of inexpensive natural gas feedstock in the U.S. market is driving increased fertilizer production. The company will construct a 2,200-metric-ton-per-day grassroot ammonia plant, as well as a 2,200-metric-ton-per-day urea unit and a nitric acid unit with a production capacity of approximately 300,000 metric tons per day. The projects, which are planned for completion around mid-2015, have a combined TIV of approximately $1.45 billion. ThyssenKrupp GmbH (Dortmund, Germany) is the EPC firm for the project, while OCI (UK) Limited (London, England) is acting as project director.

Information on these and other projects is available in Industrial Info's North American Project Database.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.