$30 million green-power plant headed for Le Sueur

The city of Le Sueur is hoping to give a whole new meaning to the adage, "Love your vegetables."

A new biofuel plant project is in the works that aims to cook corn, potato and melon waste from food processing plants until it turns into a remarkable trio -- methane bio-gas that will be burned to create electricity; liquid fertilizer, and a solid debris that will be converted into burnable pellets.

The $30 million project, called "Hometown BioEnergy," will provide electricity to residents and businesses in Le Sueur, in south-central Minnesota about 40 miles southwest of the Twin Cities. It is the first commercial-scale project of its kind in the Midwest and is a fitting tribute to a town that used to be the headquarters of Green Giant vegetable products.

If approved, the energy plant will be built on a depleted gravel pit and boast 8 megawatts of electrical capacity, which could support about 4,000 homes and businesses. Planners expect the project will create 100 new construction and up to 15 permanent jobs at the facility. The jobs are expected to pay about $70,000 a year, including benefits.

"These will be jobs of a technical nature and so will create decent living-wage jobs," said Le Sueur Mayor Bob Oberle. "I am in the camp that is excited about this."

If regulators approve the project, construction on a series of buildings, giant tanks and kettles and cauldrons could begin next spring. The plant is expected to gobble 45,000 tons of agriculture waste a year to help power the town.

Avant Energy and the Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (MMPA) came up with the idea. If successful, the plant would burn the methane-based gas to create the electricity. From there, a liquid fertilizer byproduct would be shipped to local farmers, while the fuel pellets would be sold to companies looking for an alternative to coal for their furnaces.

"We are really excited about it," said Avant Energy project director Kelsey Dahlen. "The business concept is unique to the Midwest and Minnesota and really the nation."

In the United States and in Minnesota, anaerobic digestion has mostly been used by dairy farmers who use manure to create electricity for their farm, according to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. The proposed project in Le Sueur will only use plant waste and will be built on a commercial scale, meaning that it can feed electricity to an entire town, similar to those regularly used in Europe, Dahlen said.

Environmental air permits for the project were submitted to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency on Wednesday. Land and other environmental permits are awaiting processing.

The electricity generated will be parceled out to area homes and businesses via small transmission lines. Local businesses slated to receive electricity from the plant include the Cambria factory, the Davisco Foods plant, a greeting card company and a General Mills research facility.

The green project is the latest of many underway in Minnesota. While Hometown BioEnergy focuses on electricity, 21 Minnesota green-energy factories make ethanol. Another five make biodiesel fuel additives for trucks.