Renewable Fuels Project Developers Lining Up to Build Ethanol and Biodiesel Plants

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Reported by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). According to data extracted from Industrial Info’s Renewable Fuels Database, twelve plants that were scheduled to start construction in 2005 have now been pushed back to the 2006 calendar year. Getting construction started on a new ethanol or biodiesel plant has been a trying issue for corn cooperatives and private industry players looking to get a plant up and operating. The major plant technology providers and builders are swamped with work and some are even turning away projects. Some have 2-3 year project backlogs. If you want to build a renewable fuels plant in a shorter time period, chances are, you will have to go outside the traditional big five technology and engineering providers: Broin & Associates, Delta-T Corporation, Fagen Incorporated, ICM Incorporated, and Lurgi PSI.

Currently, some 35 new plants are under construction in North America. Since the beginning of 2006, more than 50 new ethanol or biodiesel plant projects have emerged, and the number is growing daily!

Click on the image at right to view a listing of the newly identified projects

Some twelve plants that were scheduled to kick off last year have been rescheduled to start construction sometime during the next nine months. ASAAllinaces, formally Demeter, has rescheduled construction on its Ohio plant until later this month. Baard Renewables, in Ohio, has been rescheduled until mid-2006. Freedom Fuels in Iowa, along with Biofuel Solutions in Minnesota and First United Ethanol in Georgia, have been pushed back construction to the second quarter of 2006. Hereford Ethanol was on-track to start construction late last year, but that project has been pushed back to a late 2006 kick off date. Mississippi Ethanol, North Dakota Biodiesel, North East Biofuels Penn-Marr and Renewable Power of Missouri also have delayed projects. And in Canada, Manitoba Biorefiners was rescheduled to 2006.

Surprisingly, only five projects have been cancelled from the 2005 batch of plants. They are American Biofuels, Dakota Value Capture (SD), Biodiesel Systems (IL), Ozora (MT), and Ag Processing (IA). Plants planned by Belle Plaine Ethanol and California Green have been placed on an “on hold” status.

Estimates are that another 122 plants will start construction in 2006, and if all moves forward, the fuel ethanol industry will blow away their goal of reaching a 7.5 billion-gallon per year capacity level way before the original 2007 goal. Construction activity in the industry is at an all-time high and spending levels to build these plants are in excess of $6 billion.

If you are interested in finding out who is doing what, where, when, and why, you need to subscribe to Industrial Info's Ethanol Production Database, providing a comprehensive outline of all current development activities in the emerging renewable fuels market. This database covers 123 ethanol plants currently in operation and 234 plants under development. It also covers 17 operational biodiesel plants and 50 biodiesel plants under development.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a Marketing Information Service company that has been doing business for over 23 years. IIR is respected as the leader in providing comprehensive market intelligence pertaining to the industrial processing, heavy manufacturing, and energy-related industries throughout the world.