Guardian Energy to resurrect ethanol plant
In the US, the Minnesota-based Guardian Energy has agreed to purchase a 100Mgy corn ethanol plant in Janesville, Minnesota from the financial services company AgStar Lending Group. Guardian Energy hopes to close the deal by 15 September.
The Janesville plant has passed through a string of owners since planning originally began in 2004. The plant was originally built by US BioEnergy, which became part of VeraSun in 2007. AgStar acquired the plant, along with five others, when VeraSun went bankrupt in March 2009.
Now Guardian Energy hopes finally to make the plant fully operational for the first time in its chequered history. Under the terms of the deal, production is supposed to begin within 30 to 60 days of the close of the purchase.
Randall Doyle, CEO of Al-Corn Clean Fuel in Claremont and an investor in Guardian Energy, said that from his group’s perspective, it’s “the sooner the better” as far as official plant startup.
‘We’ve watched the bankruptcies and the Wall Street binge in our industry,’ he said. ‘There’s got to be a bad taste in [local people’s] mouths because of the VeraSun stuff. That plant has been empty and idle for a long time. It’s been a monument to nothing. We’re going to give it our doggonedest to make this a success.’
The Janesville plant is the fourth VeraSun property sold by AgStar Financial. A fifth sale, of a plant in Dyersville, Iowa, will be announced later this week.
The Janesville plant has passed through a string of owners since planning originally began in 2004. The plant was originally built by US BioEnergy, which became part of VeraSun in 2007. AgStar acquired the plant, along with five others, when VeraSun went bankrupt in March 2009.
Now Guardian Energy hopes finally to make the plant fully operational for the first time in its chequered history. Under the terms of the deal, production is supposed to begin within 30 to 60 days of the close of the purchase.
Randall Doyle, CEO of Al-Corn Clean Fuel in Claremont and an investor in Guardian Energy, said that from his group’s perspective, it’s “the sooner the better” as far as official plant startup.
‘We’ve watched the bankruptcies and the Wall Street binge in our industry,’ he said. ‘There’s got to be a bad taste in [local people’s] mouths because of the VeraSun stuff. That plant has been empty and idle for a long time. It’s been a monument to nothing. We’re going to give it our doggonedest to make this a success.’
The Janesville plant is the fourth VeraSun property sold by AgStar Financial. A fifth sale, of a plant in Dyersville, Iowa, will be announced later this week.
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