Area farmers within the next few years can expect competition for local corn to increase as three new ethanol plants are in various stages of development, while one in Rochelle is set to expand.

A varied group of business entities in Whiteside, Carroll, Lee and Ogle counties all are getting into the ethanol game within the next couple years.

Leading the local ethanol surge is 9-month-old Illinois River Energy, which began production at its 50-million-gallon-a-year ethanol plant in Rochelle in December.

Illinois River Energy is looking to double production within the next two years once it completes a planned addition to the existing plant.

“We are doing the groundwork right now to start construction,“ said Richard Ruebe, CEO of Illinois River Energy.

Hoping to begin work on the addition to the existing plant before the year is out, Ruebe said the plant could be at full capacity within two years from the beginning of construction.

“We are about (nine) months into production and we are very happy with it,“ Ruebe said.

The current plant may serve as a benchmark for what farmers can expect from future developments.

Illinois River Energy uses about 1.5 million bushels of corn a month in production.

“We draw about 90 percent of our need from within 25 miles of our plant,“ Ruebe said. “There is obviously plenty of real good corn around Rochelle.“

Currently taking in about 18 million bushels of corn a year, Ruebe said the Rochelle plant will be doubling that when the operation is complete. Illinois River Energy purchases all its grain through Cargill Inc.

Fulton Ethanol, started by brothers Russell and Keith Holesinger, is set to be the first ethanol plant in Whiteside County. They are planning on starting production at 56 million gallons a year, as soon as the end of 2008. Within the first year of production, the plant is slated to increase to 108 million gallons of ethanol.

That will eat up about 40 million bushels of corn a year.

The Holesingers believe Fulton is an ideal location for ethanol production because of the easy accessibility to the Mississippi River, railroad shipping and good roads such as U.S. Route 30 and Interstate 80. The plant will be built on 100 acres just north of Route 30 and will employ about 45 people in the first year.

“We have our draft permit right now, and are just working on financing,“ Keith Holesinger said.

Once construction begins, it will take about 14 months before production can begin. Holesinger notes that from financing to receiving the proper permits to actual construction, the whole process of completing an ethanol plant is a painfully slow one.

“It is a huge project. You are talking a $130 million project. That is a lot of zeros,“ Holesinger said. “There are a lot of people involved and it takes time.“

The Holesingers also operate a company called Midwest Bio Energy, a renewable energy company that is involved in a 10-million-gallon-a-year biodiesel plant in Clinton, Iowa.

Possibly the most innovative area plant project is the Invenergy LLC plant slated for the once-abandoned Nelson power plant project. The half completed electrical power plant, originally built by a company that since has gone bankrupt, was bought by Invenergy with the intent of turning it into an ethanol plant, as well as a power plant.

Invenergy, long a player in various forms of energy from wind to electrical to geothermal is making its first foray into ethanol.

“We are working with the (Illinois Environmental Protection Agency) as far as our air permits right now,“ said Joel Schroeder, project manager.

While he said the company is moving forward with both the power plant and the ethanol plant, he said they are separate projects that are not dependent on each other.

Schroeder said he expects to have air permits in hand within the next 90 days.

“After that, we will look into getting rail plans approved,“ Schroeder said.

Located near the Union Pacific line, Ivenergy plans to have a railroad spur extended onto the plant property, that will allow for easy shipping of the finished ethanol project.

With so many elements, such as permits and the rail plan up in the air, Schroeder said pinpointing a construction date is difficult.

“It is a moving target, looking at the economics of the plant. At the earliest, we are looking at next spring,“ Schroeder said.

The ethanol plant is slated to be a 100-million-gallon-a-year venture that will use 38 million bushels of corn each year.

Air permits in hand, Carroll County Ethanol is moving toward building a $200 million ethanol plant north of the Thomson Correctional Center. The project is being led by Scott Sullivan, president of the Savanna-based Sullivan Foods grocery store chain.

PIN/ SAUKVALLEY.COM