Staff photo by Fritz Busch Heartland Corn Products CEO/General Manager Tom Paitrick stands outside a building that will house a new combined heat and power system. Aided by a $1 million federal Renewable Energy for America Program (REAP) grant, the project is scheduled to be complete by June 2025.

WINTHROP — The hum of machinery could be heard as semi trucks continuously rolled into and out of the Heartland Corn Products ethanol plant site Wednesday.

Heartland Corn Products (HCP) of Winthrop recently was recently awarded a $1 million rural Minnesota Renewable Energy for America Program (REAP) federal clean energy grant.

Ethanol plant CEO/General Manager Tom Paitrick said the funds will be used to help purchase and install a combined heat and power system at the dry-mill ethanol plant.

“The project will allow us to produce up to 180 million gallons of ethanol per year and continue operations at a reduced rate in case of an electrical grid failure by allowing us to operate locally. It will improve electrical reliability and increase efficiency for us and the surrounding community and decrease ethanol production carbon intensity” he said.

“The energy we use per gallon of ethanol we produce is very important to keep our carbon intensity low,” said Paitrick.

On the east side of a large building is a heat-recovery steam generator and turbine HCP built in 2015.

“We run natural gas through a jet engine. The jet engine hot exhaust generates steam run through a heat exchanger. We recover the heat by boiling water to get very efficient,” said Paitrick.

He said a typical power plant may run at 40% to 45% efficiency but when HCP does on-site power generation with heat recovery at the end, it operates at more than 90% efficiency.

“In addition to not having transmission line losses, our heat generation is much more efficient,” said Paitrick.

He said the plant’s existing power system generates about 5 megawatts of electricity. The new power system will generate 7-8 megawatts, depending on atmospheric conditions.

“We’ll run the old and new systems together. We use 11-12 megawatts of electricity to run our operation. We’ll be able to run off-grid but for more reliability, we’ll stay connected to the grid and import a small amount of power all the time for reliability purposes,” said Paitrick.

He said project construction began this fall and is expected to be completed early in the summer of 2025.

Paitrick said the plant now generates about 150 million gallons of ethanol annually. The project will allow it to operate at 180 million gallons a year, which is the maximum allowed by its current permit.

“Over the new few years, we’ll look at incremental investment projects to continue to grow,” he said.

“Today, turn one bushel of corn into three gallons of ethanol, about 13 pounds of DDG and 1.1 pounds of corn oil,” said Paitrick.

Changing EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) regulations prompted Heartland Corn Products to pursue a supplemental on-site natural gas power option to reduce CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions through co-generation, according to KFI Engineering of St. Paul.

HCP was founded in 1992 as a farmer-owned cooperative and one of Minnesota’s first ethanol producers. Expanding since then, it now employs about 60 people producing ethanol, dried distillers grains and crude corn oil.

The business model is farmers/producers delivering corn. HCP processes the corn, markets the products and pays producers the value of the products minus operations costs and debt service.

Paitrick said the plant has been approved for a new federal energy efficiency grant but learned the program has not yet been funded for 2025.

“We’re here to serve the agricultural community. We’re owned by farmers and here for farmers to provide a local market for their corn,” he said.

The $1 million HCP grant is part of a $15.6 million investment that will save farms and rural businesses nearly $18.4 million on their energy bills each year while reducing harmful carbon emissions.

U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith supported REAP in the Inflation Reduction Act.

“Investing in long-term energy is a win-win for rural customers and businesses,” said Klobuchar (D-MN).

Other projects receiving program funds include installing energy efficient grain dryers, LED lights and heat mats for livestock, solar panels and energy efficient heating and cooling systems.

Brown County hog farm solar array projects include $92,975 to purchase and install a 30kW solar array near Springfield, $73,655 at a 64.8 kW Hanska farm, $150,938 for a Sanborn 50kW solar array, $34,311 for a Walnut Grove energy efficient farm grain dryer, $280,115 for a farm grain dryer near Morton and $527,786 for a 111.5 kW farm solar array on a farm near Fairfax.

For more information, visit www.rd.usda.gov/inflation-reduction-act/rural-energy-america-program-reap.