Construction on schedule at Aurora West ethanol plant
AURORA -- The Aventine Aurora West 113 million gallon ethanol plant in Aurora is on schedule for its opening in October, said Glenn See of JGSEE Management of Greenback, Tenn.
See spoke on Tuesday to members of the Aurora Area Chamber and Development Corp. about the Aurora West project. His company is acting as a consultant on the project.
Work on the $113 million ethanol plant began in 2006, but construction was halted in November 2008 by Aventine Renewable Energy of Illinois due to economic problems the company was facing. The company filed for bankruptcy in February 2009.
This March, Aventine Renewable Energy came out of bankruptcy and announced it was extending the construction time of the Aurora West facility.
More than 330 workers are on the job constructing the plant. See said the workers have been well received, and he thanked AACD members for sponsoring a recent pancake feed for them.
"It was an awesome deal," See said.
He said workers at the construction site appreciated the gesture.
"Towns that really relate and grasp and embrace the workers during this period are the towns that really come out a winner," See said.
He said the workers have been working 12-hour shifts nearly seven days a week.
A sign that work is progressing well at the construction site is that, after the July Fourth holiday, they will be cutting back to a 50-hour work week, See said.
During the construction project, See said, workers are still finding pieces of debris from the tornadoes that struck the area last June.
"We are finding parts and pieces everywhere around that plant," he said.
See said they have 10 workers cleaning up the construction grounds.
A setback, though, has been the recent heavy rains. According to the National Weather Service in Hastings, Aurora has had more than 5 inches of rain since the weekend and nearly 9 inches since the first of the month.
"Yesterday (Monday), I got to the job site to find that our new administration building that was almost ready to move into had water in it," See said. "So we get to remove the Sheetrock and some of the flooring."
But, over all, See said progress on the ethanol plant is coming along "very well."
He said workers are constructing the 260-by-125-foot distillers grain facility. Distillers grain, both wet and dry, is a byproduct of the distilling process and is used as livestock feed.
"We have invested millions of dollars into a very elaborate drying and handling system that will be able to load that out by railcars," he said.
Also, See said work has begun on the electrical substation at the plant -- one of the biggest electrical substations in the area.
"Work began last Friday, and Southern Power is building a very elaborate substation for our facility," See said. "That substation is a very key piece of our pie because we can't grind any corn without electricity."
While Southern Power is behind on the substation, See said, it is expected to be completed by Aug. 1.
See said the plant is being designed so its ethanol-production capacity can be doubled from 113 million gallons to 225 million gallons. The decision was made to concentrate on building the first half of the facility at this time. But once it's decided to double the production capacity, See said, it would take about nine months to complete.
"Half of those big, huge buildings you see out there are empty inside because the plans are that we can double the expansion without creating any bigger footprint," See said. "All we have to do is add the equipment."
Once the Aurora West plant and a facility being built in Columbus are completed this year, Nebraska will have a total capacity of 2.2 billion gallons of ethanol.
See also said they are beginning the process of hiring employees at the plant, which will employ as many as 50 people once at full capacity. He said the official hiring will probably take place in early August.
Another big construction highlight is that the plant will have all of its piping done in July, See said.
"So far, so good for keeping on schedule," he said. "If only the rain will ease up a little bit, we will keep it moving."
