New biodiesel plant opens in Pennsylvania; Kansas corn ethanol project stalls

In Kansas, Sunflower Electric Power and Scoular officially ended their partnership to construct a 100 Mgy ethanol facility at the Sunflower Integrated Bioenergy Center in Holcomb. Scoular had announced its intention to build the plant in January, but did not give reasons for the change in plans.

Pennsylvania Bio Diesel commenced production yesterday in Beaver County. The $15 million facility was officially opened by Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, who this week began a new push for his Energy Independence Fund.
Gov. Rendell reintroduced the Pennsylvania energy plan to a joint session of the state legislature. The centerpiece is a $850 million Energy Independence Fund, funded by a bond issue. $500 million would be invested in clean-energy projects such as biofuel plants and solar and advanced coal technologies, $100 million granted to Pennsylvania firms expanding clean-energy production, and money for grants to partly reimburse homeowners and small businesses for installation of solar panels, energy-efficient air-conditioners, refrigerators, and smart electricity meters. The bond would be paid off with a new energy utility tax.

The Pennsylvania plan sets a 1 billion gallon per year production target for 2017. Recently, Pennsylvania has seen biofuels plants in Lancaster experience resident protests and seen the state biodiesel business collapse through an inability to compete with Indiana subsidies.