VeraSun Sees 'Improved' Ethanol Market; New North Dakota Plant Now Online

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--VeraSun Energy Corporation (NYSE:VSE) (Brookings, South Dakota), the nation's second-largest ethanol producer, has announced that it has put the company's 12th fuel ethanol plant online in Hankinson, North Dakota.

The news comes on the heels of an announcement last month that VeraSun had delayed the opening of two new 110 million-gallon-per-year fuel ethanol plants that were nearing completion in Welcome, Minnesota, and Hartley, Iowa. The outlook for high corn prices and ethanol selling at deep discounts led to the start-up delays.

VeraSun CEO Don Endres said, "The decision to begin production at Hankinson is based on a number of factors, including an improved margin environment as well as other business considerations unique to the facility."

Construction of the 110 million-gallon-per-year plant in Hankinson is complete, and the facility is currently taking in and grinding corn in anticipation of producing the first gallons of ethanol this week. The company broke ground on the estimated $225 million project in August 2006, utilizing the engineering and construction team of ICM Incorporated (Colwich, Kansas) and Fagen Incorporated (Granite Falls, Minnesota).

The plant sits on a 220-acre site off of Interstate 29 in Hankinson about 55 miles south of Fargo in Richland County.

VeraSun still remains optimistic that ethanol projects nearing completion in Janesville, Minnesota, and Dyersville, Iowa, will go into production as planned.

Industrial Info's Ethanol Database provides a comprehensive outline of all current development activities in the emerging alternative fuels market. This database covers 156 ethanol plants in operation and 530 plants under development. It also covers 98 operational biodiesel plants and 245 biodiesel plants under development.

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