Coal-fired ethanol plant opens in Minn.
The first coal-fired ethanol plant in Minnesota is expected to soon be in operation in Heron Lake, Minn.
High natural gas prices are leading new ethanol plant owners to embrace coal power, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.
“The country is investing in ethanol not only as a way to reduce our reliance on oil, but as a way to reduce our greenhouse emissions and our overall emissions,” said David Morris, a renewable energy specialist at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in Minneapolis. “I don’t deny there is a savings for these ethanol plants using coal instead of natural gas. But at the same time, the country is providing an enormous incentive for making the ethanol in the first place.”
Until now, all 16 of Minnesota’s corn-based ethanol plants were powered by natural gas. Currently, the most popular alternative for existing plants is generating heat with biomass, like plants in Little Falls, Winnebago and, soon, Benson.
Heron Lake BioEnergy says it can lock in a coal price that’s roughly one-third of the price of natural gas and save $5 million a year.
State regulators don’t dictate the power source that owners of ethanol plants use. Coal “would not be our preferred alternative,” said Myrna Halbach, ethanol sector manager for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. “We’re very much behind the governor’s efforts on renewable fuels. But ultimately, that’s a business decision they would make.”
Information from: www.upi.com