VeraSun's New Minnesota Ethanol Plants Delay Start-Ups

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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 delayed the start-up of two new fuel ethanol plants in Janesville and Welcome, Minnesota.

The troubled ethanol producer filed for bankruptcy last Friday, and VeraSun officials said the company is "essentially out of cash." The company took big losses in September and is looking for a buyer, but it is doubtful it will find any takers. The Welcome plant was expected to be operational by now, and the Janesville plant was expected to start up by the end of the year. More than likely, the facilities will sit idle while the company reorganizes.

The Welcome plant started construction in November 2006 and the Janesville plant broke ground in January 2007. Both plants have a nameplate capacity of 110 million gallons per year and were built by the design-build teams of ICM Incorporated (Colwich, Kansas) and Fagen Incorporated (Granite Falls, Minnesota).

VeraSun has 14 plants operating in eight states and has the capability of producing more than 1.4 billion gallons per year of fuel ethanol and 4.5 million tons of distillers grains annually.

Industrial Info's Ethanol Database provides a comprehensive outline of all current development activities in the emerging alternative fuels market. This database covers 177 ethanol plants in operation and 530 plants under development. It also covers 145 operational biodiesel plants and 245 biodiesel plants under development.

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