PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — The federal government is conditionally committing to help finance construction of a major processing facility in eastern South Dakota that could produce up to 60 million gallons of aircraft jet fuel from corn annually.
The U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday announced a conditional $1.46 billion loan guarantee for the Gevo Net-Zero 1 plant at Lake Preston.
The facility would make renewable diesel and renewable naphtha fuels as well and would also produce an estimated 1.3 billion pounds of high-value protein products, such as animal feed, and 30 million pounds of corn oil.
In a news release, Gevo CEO Patrick Gruber praised the federal decision.
“This marks a watershed moment for the Net-Zero 1 project and a critical step forward in Gevo’s mission to transform the aviation industry by providing a scalable, sustainable, and economical renewable-carbon-based jet fuel—SAF,” he said.
The Governor’s Office of Economic Development has made various financing commitments to the project as well, including a bond issue for a livestock nutrient management system (see related story) and a reinvestment payment of up to nearly $12.3 million as compensation for state sales taxes on the project’s construction.
State campaign-finance records show that earlier this year Gevo donated $167,000 to the supporters’ side in a ballot-measure fight over Referred Law 21, which deals with carbon dioxide pipelines and other linear transmission facilities.
Summit Carbon Solutions plans to apply for a permit from the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission to build a pipeline that would collect CO2 from various corn-based fuel plants including Gevo and then bury the CO2 underground in North Dakota. South Dakota voters will decide in the November 5 general election whether the referred law, SB201, takes effect.
