Ethanol Plant in Indiana Gets Go Ahead

Rensselaer, Indiana [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] New Energy Capital will construct the Iroquois Bio-Energy Company, a 40 million gallon per year ethanol production facility in Rensselaer, Indiana.

IBEC will produce ethanol from corn grown by local farmers and will also produce distillers grains, a high quality feed supplement ideal for the region’s growing dairy industry. Ethanol from the plant will be blended with gasoline for use in the transportation sector. “This ethanol plant is a perfect example of communities using their resources to create new economic opportunity. The success of this facility is a shared success between the local farmers, the people who will be put to work, and the entire region,” said U.S. Congressman Peter Visclosky, who secured federal appropriations from the DOE for the project and attended the grounbreaking. “Ethanol is an attractive fuel for the US market with the rapidly rising cost of gasoline, concern about the nation’s increasing reliance on imported oil, and the challenge of global climate change, ” said Dan W. Reicher, New Energy Capital President and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Energy. In addition to other equity investors, New Energy Capital provided a majority of the equity for the IBEC project, secured a $38.6 million loan from Farm Credit Services of Mid-America and will undertake financial and asset management for the approximately $70 million project.