BY SUSAN ERLER, Times of Northwest Indiana
serler@nwitimes.com
RENSSELAER | The opening of the first ethanol production plant in Northwest Indiana has been delayed a month as the plant waits its turn for a start-up crew.
With dozens of new ethanol plants nearing completion nationwide, the traveling crews skilled at inspecting equipment and training plant workers are in high demand, said Keith Gibson, general manager of the Iroquois Bio-Energy Co. LLC. plant under construction outside of Rensselaer.
"We're waiting to schedule a start-up crew," Gibson said.
A December opening had been targeted when work got underway on the plant just over a year ago. The Iroquois plant is expected to process up to 14.5 million bushels of corn yearly into 40 million gallons of fuel grade ethanol, a clean burning renewable fuel that has been touted as an alternative to Middle Eastern oil.
The plant now is expected to open sometime in January, and hiring is underway for the plant's 32-person work force, Gibson said.
Close to 300 applicants sought jobs paying an average $16 per hour, Gibson said.
"We're about done with the interview process, and we're making final selections," he said.
A plant manager has been hired, Gibson said.
Construction of the $66 million plant is on target for completion by late this year, Gibson said.
Financing the project took more than four years, with investors ranging from individual farmers to big-money contributors, including New Hampshire based New Energy Capital.
Gibson estimates as many as 50 farmers, most from Northwest Indiana, will supply corn to make ethanol at the plant.
The number of ethanol plants in production across the U.S. has grown as oil prices skyrocketed this year and the nation looked increasingly to alternative fuels.
Interest has not waned despite a recent drop in prices -- roughly 80 cents per gallon in three months -- at the pump, Gibson said.
"While the price (of gasoline) has come down, the market volume is still there," Gibson said. "Our appetite for fuel doesn't decrease."
Indiana alone has at least 11 ethanol plants announced or under construction, including in Cloverdale, Mount Vernon and Tipton, with total capacity of nearly 1 billion gallons.
In January 2005, the state had just one ethanol plant in operation.