Ethanol plant boosts efficiency with wind power

Monday, July 02, 2007

Though RENEW cannot take credit for the developments at a North Dakota ethanol plant, Michael Vickerman wrote about the need for ethanol plants to use more renewable energy.

From an article by Dan Nienaber in The Free Press, Mankato:

. . . Meticulously, the workers used a crane to hoist each hulking wind turbine section from extra-long semi trailers and place them gently on the ground. Large bases for the two giant wind turbines had already been planted on top of their foundations and the workers were staging the rest of the parts for assembly later. A 135-foot wind turbine blade swayed in a steady breeze as it was lowered.

The wind turbines will be more than 400 feet tall, from blade tip to the ground, when they are assembled. Each turbine is capable of producing 2.1 megawatts of power. Together, the two turbines will provide 45 percent of the electric energy needed to power the Corn Plus ethanol plant. . . .

Gary Engelby’s farm place is across the highway from the Corn Plus plant and will be in the shadow of the new wind turbines. From the road in front of his yard, you can see the tops of two similar wind turbines that were built about eight miles south near Blue Earth.

He’s a Corn Plus member and said he likes the idea of using renewable wind power to produce ethanol, another renewable fuel.

“I think this is neat, doing this to make the plant more energy efficient,” he said. “It’s just nice to see renewable resources being used.”