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Show Me Energy Cooperative begins equity driveBy Doug Rich Show Me Energy Cooperative in Centerview, Mo., is beginning its equity fund drive for the first phase of it building project. Show Me Energy Cooperative is a farmer-producer owned cooperative organized to produce alternative fuels from renewable biomass inputs. Five years ago a group of producers got together to form Missouri BioEnergy that would use biomass to create a new form of clean energy. Steve Flick, president of the cooperative, said they looked at other energy delivery systems in this country as well as South America and Europe. "Those guys are 20 years ahead of us when it comes to agricultural biomass systems," Flick said. "What we have done is take corn stover, switchgrass, seed waste from processing plants, even coffee and tea grounds and tested them to see if they can be used to create clean energy." Flick said their model is a little different from other new-generation cooperatives that have formed in recent years. Rather than go out and solicit funds for a plant yet to be built Missouri BioEnergy received a loan and built three-fourths of the plant to show how serious they are about their plan. "You can see what you are getting," Flick said. To date this group has already constructed a large warehouse and bagging facility, three Quonset style storage huts, a truck weigh scale and a temporary office building. "The project is small and we are going in phases," Flick said. "We are not spending $50 million right off the bat, we are spending six and a half million in the first phase and $12 million in the second phase." Memberships are $2,500 each with a minimum purchase of two memberships. Each membership requires the delivery of 500 to 1000 pounds of biomass to the processing plant in Centerview. They will grind about 30,000 bales a year for pellet production. The plant is not dependent on corn stover but will use biomass from a wide range of sources including wheat straw, switchgrass, milo stubble, out of condition hay, seed hulls, even wet distillers dried grains from ethanol plants.. "We don't want to put all our eggs in one basket," Flick said. "We are creating markets for products that have no market." J.D. Dowell, secretary of Show Me Energy Cooperative and owner of Lick Skillet Seeds in Gallatin, Mo., will be hauling seed waste from his processing plant to Centerview. "We have hauled it to the ditch and fed it to cattle anything to just to get rid of it," Dowell said. "We are hoping also to bale up residue from native grasses after we have cut the seed off." In the first phase they will produce pellets from biomass grown in a 100 mile radius of the plant located in Centerview, Mo. These pellets will be sold in 40 pound bags for use in pellet stoves and also sold in bulk to a local electric utility company where they will be burned along with coal to fire the burners. Flick said the utility will burn about five pounds of pellets for every 95 pounds of coal. At full capacity the plant will be able to produce about 100,000 tons of fuel pellets a year. This represents only 10 percent of the total volume of pellets sold during the 2005 heating season. Chris Short, general manager of Show Me Energy Cooperative, said that there were 61 pellet fuel manufacturers in the U.S. in 2005 and there was still a nationwide pellet shortage. The second phase of the project will involve the construction of a facility to produce cellulosic ethanol. This will be a relatively small plant by current industry standards producing five to eight million gallons of ethanol on an annual basis. Their goal is not to compete with ethanol from grain but to complement it. Flick said their facility is small by design. They hope it will serve as a model for similar projects around the country. It is expensive to haul biomass material which means these plants need to be close to the source. The small central Missouri community of Centerview has welcomed the cooperative with open arms. Flick said Centerview was selected because affordable land was available, the proximity to biomass material needed for the pellets, access to highway and rail lines, and available resources at nearby University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Mo., for on-going training and affiliation with scientific and academic communities.
Doug Rich can be reached by phone at 785-749-5304 or by e-mail at richhpj@aol.com. B 3 1/29/07 2 Star EK Date: 1/26/07
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