Story County Iowa Plans More than $560 Million in Industrial Projects through End of 2014

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The centrally located Story County, Iowa, in the heart of the heartland, may only have 20 industrial facilities and 90,000 residents, but the county and the industrial plants within its borders are planning a whopping $560 million of project activity over the next two years.

The county is home to such manufactures as 3M Company, Ames Municipal Electric, Barilla Pasta, Hach Company and Iowa State University. Projects range from routine power plant maintenance and capital work to a cereal and pasta plant expansion, as well as grassroot construction.

The project that stands out the most is the new cellulosic fuel ethanol plant planned by DuPont Industrial Biosciences, a subsidiary of E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Company (NYSE:DD), in Nevada, Iowa. The company recently broke ground on a new $200 million plant that will produce 30 million gallons of second generation per year when it goes online in mid-2014.

Laboratorias HIPRA is planning a large grassroot $97 million animal health vaccines plant in Ames, Iowa, that is expected to be constructed in phases over the next five years.

Iowa State University is also planning a large, $74 million expansion of its biorenewables complex in Ames that is expected to be completed by mid-2014.

Glanbia Nutritionals, located in Sioux Falls, is planning to construct a new $29 million cereal ingredients processing plant that is expected to start construction early next year.

Another ethanol-related business, Lincolnway Energy Cooperative, is pondering a large, $25 million project to retrofit the plant to produce bio-based isobutanol. If all goes as planned, the project is expected to be completed before the 2015 corn harvest.

Barilla America is planning a large, $15 million expansion of its pasta plant in Ames that is in the company's long-range plan to start construction in early 2015.

And local utility company Ames Municipal Electric System has about $30 million in capital and maintenance work planned over the next two years. Projects at the utility's Ames generating facility include pollution control projects boiler refurbishments and maintenance outages as well as a new electrical substation.

Story County's population grew by 12% in 2010 and with new industries moving in and the existing ones expanding and upgrading, job creation and industry growth is expected to be on the rise in the county over the next 10 to 15 years.

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.