Minnesota ethanol plant to add wind turbines
The Corn Plus ethanol plant in Winnebago, Minnesota is actively working to eliminate all external sources of energy for their production process. They already eliminated more than half of their natural gas consumption by installing a fluid-bed reactor to burn biomass, including the corn syrup that is a by-product of the ethanol production process. Now in a joint project with Renewable Energy Solutions and John Deere Wind Energy, workers at the plant are installing two wind turbines by March 1, 2007. The wind turbines will generate 4.2 megawatts of power that will replace 45 percent of the electricity used by the plant. They had a hard time finding turbines at a reasonable cost because of skyrocketing demand for wind power. This moves the plant a big step closer to energy self-sufficiency.
[Source: Mankato Free Press]
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