By KEVIN WALKER
Michigan Correspondent
 
ITHACA, Mich. — Several proposed ethanol plants in Michigan may never be built because of higher input costs, negative press about ethanol and other factors.

A number of plants are in the proposal stage, including sites in Corunna, Watervliet, McBain, Niles, Alma, Ithaca and a proposed expansion in Marysville. There are four ethanol plants in operation in the state right now.

“There’s a lot of negative press out there about ethanol and that may have a negative effect on the willingness of people to invest in ethanol plants,” said Bruce Dale, a biofuel expert and engineering professor at Michigan State University.

He said, however, that the cost of corn and steel are the main problems getting in the way of ethanol right now. The number of corn-based ethanol plants will reach a natural saturation level in the state, he said. Dale also said it will take 10-15 years before cellulosic ethanol production reaches the same level that corn-based ethanol is at currently.

Jim Byrum, president of the Michigan Agri-Business Assoc., had a slightly different take on the subject, but the difference seemed to be one of emphasis more than substance.

 “What has caused some of those plants not to move forward is margins,” he said. “Secondly, corn supply gets tight the more plants you build.”

Eric Voisinet, a corn grower in Clinton County, is a member of the Michigan Corn Growers board and an investor at the proposed ethanol plant in Ithaca, as well as others. He makes a distinction between the Ithaca project and the others named.

The Ithaca project has stalled because of a lack of funding, he said, but he believes this project, unlike the others, will go forward. By the time the Ithaca plant started looking for investors, people were pretty tapped out and many who might have been interested in the project had already invested their money in another one, he said.

“Ethanol’s not as profitable as it was two years ago,” Voisinet explained. “The price of corn doesn’t help things.”

Another problem at the Ithaca site is people wanted the plant to be locally owned rather than owned by a large company, he said. While that goal is laudable, Voisinet believes it’s unrealistic.

“I’m quite confident there’s going to be an ethanol plant there,” Voisinet said. “The local money just wasn’t enough to get it going.”
He stated a number of large companies are considering buying the project, but he didn’t name names.

Voisinet also believes most of the other proposed projects won’t happen, partly because of bad timing but also because the sites are located too far from where large amounts of corn are grown.
“You have to have a lot of corn production in the area to support an ethanol plant. Certain places are just better than others,” he said.
Byrum believes corn-based ethanol will continue to be a key part of the state’s alternative energy portfolio, but that eventually, cellulosic ethanol will become more important.

“The direction is towards cellulosic, but it’s several years down the road,” Byrum said.