Industrial Info Looks at Top Five Spenders in U.S. Ethanol Plant Development

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). In an industry expected to spend in excess of $45 billion in the coming years to develop additional ethanol capacity in the U.S., Industrial Info decided to take a look at who is projected to spend the most. According to Jay Brunson, Industrial Info’s Vice President of Alternative Fuels, "The top five spenders account for a whopping $5.2 billion worth of capital investment or 11.5% of the $45 billion in project spending activity that Industrial Info is currently tracking."

Click on the image at right to view a chart of the total investments of the top five Alternative Fuels Industry companies.

Industrial Info's 57-month Confidence Factor moving forward shows about a 25% fallout on ethanol and related biofuel projects. That means roughly 75% of the projects have moved forward into the construction stage, and the remaining projects get put on hold, cancelled or deferred. The top five companies are developing 36 new fuel ethanol plant projects. Industrial Info does not expect a large percentage of fallout due to the fact these companies, for the most part, are solid, have a good business plan and will get the funds needed to move forward. In come cases, construction is already underway.

American Ethanol Incorporated (Chicago, Illinois) is ranked first on our listing with plans to spend $1.26 billion to build nine new fuel ethanol plants across the country. Construction is already underway at the Sutton, Nebraska location on a 100 million gallon per year plant. Additional plants of the same size are planned to be built in Illinois towns that include San Jose, Stillman Valley, Gilman, Dwight and Litchfield. Additional Nebraska locations are in Grand Island, Red Cloud and Tekamah. If all plants move forward, American Ethanol will have 900 million gallons of capacity online by late 2009.

U.S. Bioenergy Corporation (NASDAQ:USBE) (Brookings, South Dakota) is ranked second with $1.1 billion in projected capital spending. The company already has plants under construction in Janesville, Minnesota; Grinnell, Iowa; Ord, Nebraska; Dyersville, Iowa and Hankinson, North Dakota. Additional facilities are planned to be built in Altamont, Illinois; Hayland, Nebraska and Springfield, Minnesota. Once all plants come online, the company will have 750 million gallons of capacity.

POET (Sioux Falls, South Dakota), formally Broin Companies, has interest in eight new developing plants ranking them third on the list. A projected $1.07 billion in spending is projected through the company’s ventures in Indiana where two plants are currently under construction in Alexandria and Portland, with an additional planned location in North Manchester. Other plants are in the works in Glenville, Minnesota and two additional Ohio plants will be located in Fostoria and Marion, as well as a location already under construction in Bucyrus. The company is also looking to spend some $200 million to convert its existing Emmetsburg, Iowa plant to handle cellulosic feedstocks and expand capacity.

E85 Incorporated (Kingston, Washington) ranks fourth in spending with a planned investment of $1.01 billion to develop six new plants. Construction has started on a 100 million gallon per year plant in Wahoo, Nebraska and the company plans to build plants of the same size in Corunna, Michigan; Dexter, New Mexico; Newark, Ohio; Klamath Falls, Oregon and Lancaster, Ohio.

Abengoa Bioenergy Corporation (St. Louis, Missouri) ranks fifth on the list with $798 million in projected spending. The company currently has a plant under construction in Ravenna, Nebraska and has future plans to build in Madison, Illinois; Mount Vernon, Indiana and two locations in the Kansas cities of Colwich and Wichita.

Jay Brunson, Industrial Info’s Vice President of Alternative Fuels adds, “If everything moves forward as planned, all together the top five spenders will add an additional 3.08 billion gallons of capacity to the country’s existing 6.1 billion gallons of annual capacity.”

Industrial Info's Ethanol Production Database provides a comprehensive outline of all current development activities in the emerging synthetic fuels market. This database covers 123 ethanol plants currently in operation and 290 plants under development. It also covers 32 operational biodiesel plants and 75 biodiesel plants under development.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) provides marketing communication services ranging from industrial database solutions to market forecasting, custom analytics, and specialty promotions that support high-level image campaigns.