Egyptian Company Plans Iowa Fertilzer Plant

Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's largest company, has announced plans to build a $1.4 billion fertilizer plant in southeast Iowa. The plant will use natural gas to create the reaction between nitrogen and hydrogen that is the basis of  ammonia fertilizer. Iowa is offering at least $100 million in incentives to secure a plant that will provide 165 permanent jobs after start-up, along with 2,500 during the construction. Read more

Biodiesel Production Continues Strong

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced last week that that 100 million gallons of biodiesel were produced in July, bringing the total production for the first seven months of 2012 to nearly 658 million gallons. The 2011 total was 1.1 billion gallons. Iowa, with 13 biodiesel refineries, is a leading biodiesel producer. Read more...

Iowa Legislature Considers Nuclear Energy Bill

The Iowa legislature is considering bills that would provide broad support for nuclear energy. The bills, recently introduced for study in the commerce subcommittees of the Iowa House and Senate, would allow regulated utilities in Iowa to begin charging customers for the cost of nuclear power facilities while they are under construction. Iowa's lone nuclear power plant near Palo is nearly 40 years old. Read more...

New Iowa Study Highlights Ethanol's Economic Impact

Iowa State University has released a study showing the potential impact of ethanol on the state's economy. The report shows that when 15 ethanol plans under construction in Iowa are ready for production, the new and current plants combined will have created 1,865 jobs in Iowa. According to the report, each job at an ethanol plant supports another 3.38 jobs in the Iowa economy, meaning a total of 8,169 jobs are expected to be supported by the ethanol industry. In all, ISU says 5,440 current ethanol-related jobs are contributing $245 million to the Iowa economy.

http://www.kcci.com/r/15274338/detail.html

http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/research/webpapers/paper_12865.pdf

Iowa Mulls Green Energy Subsidies

Democrats in the Iowa Legislature have proposed a package of incentives that would provide tax rebates to businesses and homeowners who install certain alternative energy systems. The $10 million plan focuses on small solar or wind energy systems and would give homeowners rebates up to $3,000 and businesses up to $15,000. Sponsors say the measure would provide $4 million to homeowners, enough for 1,300 projects, and $6 million for businesses, enough for 400 projects.

http://news.ino.com/headlines/?newsid=68976971747400

New Iowa Wind Farm Proposed

Chicago-based PNE Wind USA is planning to build a 30-megawatt farm in southeast Iowa by 2013. The 10-turbine facility would be the first wind project in Johnson County and one of the few in the southeastern part of the state. The vast majority of Iowa's wind energy is produced in the western and central regions where the pace of construction in recent years has increased the state's existing wind capacity ranking to number two, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

http://www.press-citizen.com/article/20110208/NEWS01/102080316/1079/

Iowa Farmers Now Delivering Biomass to POET

Farmers are now delivering biomass bales to POET's 22-acre storage site in Emmetsburg, Iowa, the future home of the 25 million-gallon-per-year cellulosic ethanol plant dubbed "Project LIBERTY."

Area farmers harvested 56,000 tons of corn cobs, leaves, husks and some stalk this fall but had been waiting to deliver the biomass to POET while guidelines for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) were finalized. Farmers on Monday began completing the application process, and they started delivering bales soon after.

http://www.poet.com/discovery/releases/showRelease.asp?id=255&year=2011&categoryid=0

http://biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2011/02/03/iowa-grants-20m-to-poet-emmetsburg-cellulosic-ethanol-project/

Millers Object to New Corn Variety

Corn millers reportedly are urging the USDA not to approve a new biotech variety of corn that was engineered to cut the cost and greenhouse gas emissions of ethanol production. The millers say the biotech kernels could accidentally get into the processors' grain supplies and ruin them. The corn in question is produced by Syngenta Seeds, Inc., which has a research center in central Iowa.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110203/BUSINESS01/102030343/New-ethanol-only-biotech-corn-raises-doubts

Iowa Wind Industry Slows Down

The wind energy industry in Iowa is experiencing many of the same difficulties that has slowed expansion across the country, according to a recent report.  Reduced electricity demand, cheaper natural gas, tighter lending policies and the lack of a clear federal  policy all combined to create a significant slowdown in the pace of new U.S. turbine installations in 2010.

In Iowa, roughly 10 gigawatts of wind-generated power were added in 2008 and 2009. In 2010, the amount is expected to less than half that amount when the totals are compiled.

http://thegazette.com/2011/01/30/business380-iowa-wind-energy-industry-expected-to-see-slow-recovery/

University of Iowa Builds Solar Charging Station

A new solar-powered charging station for electric-powered vehicles is nearing completion at the University of Iowa. The structure is a 60-yard-long slanted canopy lined with reflective, dark-colored solar panels. It has more than 20 stalls and will be used to power the university's fleet of eight electric vehicles. The university plans to expand the fleet once the charging station is finished. The project, which cost $950,000, was funded by multiple agencies, including a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. Read more...

Iowa Governor Wants to Subsidize E-15

Speaking at the Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit in Des Moines this week, Governor Terry Branstad called for shifting state subsidies from the E-10 blend in the state to E-15 following the recent Environmental Protection Agency ruling that vehicles made after 2001 could use the higher ethanol blend. A study released at the event by the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association claims the industry accounted for nearly 8% of the state’s Gross Domestic Product last year and boosted state tax revenue by $532 million. The state has 39 ethanol plants, all up and running. Read more...

Iowa Senator Introduces Biofuels Bill

U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) has introduced the “Biofuels Market Expansion Act of 2011,” legislation designed to promote Flexible Fuel Vehicles, expand the number of blender pumps, and make renewable fuel pipelines eligible for the federal loan guarantee pipeline program. The bill's co-sponsors included  Senators Tim Johnson (D-SD), Richard Lugar (R-IN), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Al Franken (D-MN). Read more...

Wind/Solar Conference Set for Iowa

Iowa State University Extension in Plymouth County, along with other partner organizations, is presenting a Wind/Solar Energy Conference on Wednesday, March 2 in Le Mars. Speakers from the Iowa Energy Center, USDA Rural Development and Iowa State University will address various topics concerning wind and solar energy, including financing, legal considerations, and planning and zoning. Read more...

Iowa Awarded $1.4 Million for Renewable Energy

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin announced yesterday that his state will receive more than $1.4 million for renewable energy projects, most of which will go toward the production and use of biofuels through the Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels. The program was authorized under the 2008 Farm Bill. Read more...

Iowa Researchers Report on Climate Change

Researchers from Iowa’s three regent universities presented findings from a climate change study to the Iowa General Assembly this week and recommended seven legislative policy initiatives to address climate change in Iowa. Researchers noted that Iowa has experienced a long-term trend toward more precipitation, an increase in extreme summer rainfall, and warmer temperatures, particularly over the winter and at night. Read more...

Hawkeye Sells Iowa Ethanol Plants

Hawkeye Renewables announced today that it is selling its ethanol plants located in Iowa Falls and Fairbank, Iowa, to Flint Hills Resources Renewables, LLC in an all-cash transaction. Flint Hills Resources Renewables is an affiliate of Koch Industries, Inc. and Flint Hills Resources, LLC, a leading provider of transportation fuels used in the Upper Midwest. The transaction is expected to close early in the first quarter of 2011. Read more...

Does the DDG Flap Mean Trouble for Iowa Ethanol?

Iowa ethanol producers are monitoring the trade dispute between the U.S. and China over dried distillers grains (DDGs) and wondering what it means for them in 2011. Last week, China announced an investigation into what it says may be illegal dumping of DDGs by the United States. DDGs are the dried corn kernel shells left over during ethanol production. They typically are sold for livestock feed at prices less than regular corn.  Sales of DDGs contribute up to 30% of the revenue generated by a typical ethanol plant. Iowa leads the nation in the number of ethanol plants with 40 and accounts for about one-third of U.S. ethanol production.  Read more...

New Iowa Wind Farm Announced

A new wind farm will be constructed in western and central Iowa by MidAmerican Energy Co., according to a new release published today. The facility will use 258 turbines made by German manufacturer Siemens to generate 593 megawatts of electricity. When completed in early 2012, the new wind farm will increase Iowa's total wind energy output by 16% to 3,760 megawatts. MidAmerican Energy serves retail customers in Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois and South Dakota. Read more...

Iowa Wind Farm Finds Buyer for Power

Iberdrola Renewables has signed 20-year contracts with two Illinois utilities for the power generated by the New Harvest Wind Power project under construction northwest of Schleswig in Crawford County, Iowa. The 100MW facility will use a total of 50 turbines supplied by Spanish manufacturer Gamesa. The turbines are expected to be delivered in the spring of 2011. Read more...