Domestic Fuel

The Fall 2009 of Ethanol Retailer has recently been published by Growth Energy. The free pulication, distributed to over 25,000 retailers nation wide, is geared specifically towards independent ethanol retailers and petroleum marketers.

The magazine encourages installation of mid-level and E85 blends and provides the necessary information to retailers on the installation process at their station. The publication also highlights financial opportunities and incentives available to retailers for installation of ethanol blended fuel.

A few highlights of the Fall 2009 issue includes: first person stories on how two independent retailers took the fast track to installing blender pumps in Ohio and Inidana; mapping ethanol use in the U.S.; and the race to develop high-performance engines that are powered by ethanol.

See a copy of the Fall 2009 edition of Ethanol Retailer by clicking here.

The Clean Energy Coalition (CEC) has announced that it is offering up to $5,000 to install or upgrade an existing pump to dispense E85 in the state of Michigan. This is one of many of the incentives offered in the state.

“The Clean Energy Coalition is dedicated to increasing the number of E85 pumps in Michigan,” said Sean Reed, CEC executive director. “Through a grant from the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth (DeLEG), we are providing infrastructure incentives for E85.”

In addition to the CEC grant, gas station owners can also apply for federal and state tax credits that significantly reduce the installation and qualified equipment costs. “Stations may be eligible for up to an additional $50,000 to be applied towards installation costs from other state and federal incentives,” said Reed. The federal government is offering a 50 percent tax credit of up to $50,000 and the Michigan Department of Treasury is offering a 30 percent tax credit up to $20,000.

The DeLEG Energy Office is also offering a $1,500 incentive to assist with the cost of designing and installing a highway exit sign that promotes the E85 pump, as well as paying the first year’s annual fee.

In total, the CEC was awarded $145,000 from the DeLEG and $20,000 from the Corn Marketing Program of Michigan (CMPM) to offer station owners the opportunity to sell E85. “I’m excited to work with the CEC to help bolster Michigan’s ethanol industry and increase the number of E85 pumps available to consumers,” said Pollok-Newsom. “Ethanol reduces our country’s need for foreign oil, supports our rural communities, and helps reduce harmful greenhouse gases.”

For more information or to apply for a grant from the CEC, visit www.cec.mi.org.

The economic stimulus package, signed by President Obama, includes an increase in the federal income tax credit for alternative fuel infrastructure. The National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition (NEVC) played a lead role in the inclusion of this incentive and is confident this will lead to a more prominent position of high blends of ethanol in the marketplace.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or H.R. 1, increases the existing Federal alternative fuel infrastructure tax credit of $30,000 or 30 percent of the incremental cost, to $50,000 or 50 percent of the incremental cost. The NEVC began encouraging the inclusion of this additional tax incentive in November of 2008 by forwarding a letter to the Speaker of the House with nearly ninety industry leader signatures. The original infrastructure development provision was part of the 2005 Energy Policy Act.

More than seven million E85 compatible or flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) are currently driving on American roads. To date, only 1,958 E85 stations exist to fuel these FFVs. Furthermore, Chrysler, Ford Motor Company and General Motors all have promised to increase their flexible fuel model year availability in a few short years. The additional tax credit will assist those struggling fuel retailers to include this clean burning, alternative fuel to their stations.

According to Bernie Punt, chairman of the NEVC and general manager of Siouxland Energy and Livestock Coop., the increased federal income tax credit should be instrumental in the establishment of new fueling systems across the nation. Punt stated, “The NEVC has been focusing on the lack of E85 fueling infrastructure for the past several years. We lead the effort to establish the tax credit in 2005 and to increase the credit in the stimulus bill. The lack of fueling infrastructure remains the major impediment to using high-level blends of ethanol.”

Also included in the recently signed Stimulus Bill is a grant program providing $300 million to the Department of Energy’s Clean Cities program to implement section 721 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The NEVC will be closely monitoring the planned distribution of these funds to encourage DOE to allocate significant portions of the monies to advance E85 fueling systems and educational/marketing efforts.

The National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition (NEVC) recently elected five new members to three years terms on their Board of Directors. New members include: Shirley Ball of Ethanol Producers and Consumers ((EPAC) Ms. Ball was re-elected to an additional 3 year term); Don Borgman of John Deere; Tom May of MFA Oil Company; Dave Weber of Abengoa Bioenergy Trading; and DeVonna Zeug of the Minnesota Corn Growers Association.

“It is a privilege for MFA Oil to have a retailer’s voice at the table with the rest of the valued stakeholders in the efforts to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, have cleaner emissions from our transportation sector and bring economic value to our country thru the NEVC’s continued efforts to promote higher level blends of ethanol,” said Tom May, director of marketing for MFA Oil Company. MFA Oil Company operates more than 50 E85 fueling stations throughout the Missouri, Iowa and Arkansas.

The NEVC also elected officers for 2009: Bernie Punt, general manager of Siouxland Energy and Livestock Cooperative of Sioux Center, Iowa will serve as the Board Chairman. Elected as Vice-Chairman was Dwayne Siekman, executive director of the Ohio Corn Growers Association. Scott Negley, director of North America Product Management of Dresser Wayne will be serving as Secretary of the NEVC. Finally, DeVonna Zeug, a corn and soybean farmer from Walnut Grove, Minnesota, will serve as Treasurer representing the Minnesota Corn Growers Association.

“We are pleased to welcome these industry leaders as new NEVC board members,” noted Chairman of the NEVC Bernie Punt. “The NEVC provides the opportunity of bringing together a group of stakeholders that can offer unique views while working together to promote high level blends of ethanol fuel in flexible fuel vehicles. We look forward to working with each of them in advancing this goal.”

Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Adrian Polansky announced today that he is making permanent the guidelines his department developed for a pilot project to allow at-the-pump blending of biofuels, including blending ethanol with gasoline in percentages ranging from 10 percent to 85 percent.

Blending under the guidelines was allowed on a trial basis under a pilot project that ran throughout 2008.

“Information we collected during the pilot project confirm that blending pumps can consistently and accurately dispense a range of ethanol blends from a single pump,” Polansky said. “This is a real boon for owners of flexible fuel vehicles who want more choice than either 10 percent or 85 percent ethanol that are the blends most frequently offered. These blender pumps allow vehicle owners to select the blend that works best for them based on performance and price.”

To prevent consumers who aren’t driving a flexible fuel vehicle from dispensing a higher ethanol blend than is appropriate for their vehicle, the pumps feature a bright orange label with the message, “For use in flexible fuel vehicles only.”

Crescent Oil is advancing alternative fuel infrastructure through the recent purchase of Dresser Wayne Ovation® iX™ fuel dispensers and the Fusion™ Universal Site Controller. The fuel supplier plans to implement more than 600 new dispensers throughout its more than 150 retail locations across the Midwestern United States. As a result, the sites will be able to sell a wide range of ethanol fuel blends and streamline operations with improved payment security and remote management.

“The Fusion controller’s technology helps us make the most of our equipment,” Phil Near, President of Crescent Oil says. “It is an excellent tool for increasing efficiency and reducing costs.” Crescent Oil selected the Ovation iX fuel dispenser for its flexible hose configuration enables the company’s retail sites to dispense high blend ethanol fuels for flex fuel vehicles through one hose while dispensing lower ratio blends through another hose. It is the first dispenser to offer blended products on multiple hoses.

“This capability is a significant step toward increasing the distribution of eco-friendly fuels, particularly because many states are beginning to mandate dedicated hoses for high-ratio ethanol fuels,” Scott Negley, director of Dresser Wayne North American product management says.

When it comes to harvesting equipment for Case IH, Scott Acker is who you want to talk to. He’s their Director, Harvesting Marketing. I spoke with him at POET’s Project LIBERTY field day right after he answered a bunch of questions from farmers who were attending.

Sam says POET approached them with the idea of collecting cobs to make ethanol about a year ago. They discussed the business opportunities and concluded that this was a promising venture. He says they need to provide farmers with incentive and options to harvest both the grain and cobs so POET can make more ethanol. They’re working on it.

The harvesting options Case IH is working on include CCM and a cart behind the combine that collects the cobs separately from the grain. He says it’s best then to just pile the cobs for later pickup.

You can listen to my interview with Sam here: poet-liberty-08-acker.mp3

You can also download the interview with this link (mp3).

Project LIBERTY Field Day Photo Album

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (3.9MB)

The Director of Business Development for POET is Scott Weishaar. He was the guy who told us about the various equipment options on display at their Project LIBERTY field day. That’s because he works directly with the farm OEM’s.

He says the response from the OEM’s is phenomenal. There are several systems already being tested and they should be available in the near future. He says one of the important elements of harvesting cobs for the farmer is being able to do it without “slowing them down.” He also says they’re targeting the collection of cobs to all sizes of farms too. Therefore, there are multiple options and costs for some of these solutions

Options to collect the cobs include CCM (corn cob mix) where the cobs are mixed with the grain during harvest and then separated afterward and towable solutions where the cobs are collected in separate bins during the harvest process.

You can listen to my interview with Scott here: poet-liberty-08-weishaar.mp3

You can also download the interview with this link (mp3).

I also recorded Scott’s stage presentation in which he talks about the whole cob collection process which you can watch here:

Project LIBERTY Field Day Photo Album

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (6.3MB)

Someone had to provide assistance to get all this big machinery to the POET Project LIBERTY field day last week. That someone was MachineryLink, represented by Landon Morris, Vice President, Marketing.

Landon says they’re in the business of leasing late model combines and that they heard about the project a year ago. So what they’re doing is leasing machines directly to POET. He says they’ve used them in their research this summer to test their cob wagons. He thinks that it’s interesting that ethanol companies are now thinking about farm equipment.

You can listen to my interview with Landon here: poet-liberty-08-morris.mp3

You can also download the interview with this link (mp3).

Project LIBERTY Field Day Photo Album

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (2.2MB)