- RPO America
- Research Center
- Rural ITS
- Conferences
- Resources
- Jobs
Alternative and renewable forms of energy can have impacts on the transportation system. The brief case studies from southwestern Wisconsin, written by Martin Weiss of the Federal Highway Administration, and other resources below demonstrate some of the forms that these energy impacts may take.
Biofuels
Ethanol production has been rapidly increasing in Wisconsin from 2005 to 2007, and more expansion of the industry is expected.
The transportation center (left) and storage bins and tanks (right) of the United Wisconsin Grain Producers (UWGP) operating ethanol plant in Columbia County, Wisconsin are key to the plant's operations. Images taken August 1, 2007 by Dennis Leong, Wisconsin DOT.
The existing United Wisconsin Grain Producers (UWGP) plant accepts an average of about 60 trucks a day (with peak offloading of about 120 trucks/day) delivering corn to the plant. Most of the corn is grown within 50 miles of the plant. Some of the ethanol leaves the plant via truck (about 40 trucks/day), some by rail. The total ethanol production in 2006 was about 50 million gallons of ethanol at an effective ratio of about 2.9 gallons of ethanol per bushel of corn (other products made from the protein and husk portion of the corn kernels are shipped separately - all via truck - but the traffic is less than 10% that of the ethanol). The impact of this operation must be examined in the context that, if the UWGP plant did not exist, corn produced locally would still have to be shipped somewhere (no 'before' study with which to compare the existing situation is readily available).
For more information on the plant, visit http://www.uwgp.com.
The Didion company in Cambria, Wisconsin is in the process of expanding from a grain milling operation to a combination milling and ethanol operation.
Although the expansion of the Didion plant to include ethanol production has yet to be completed (expected in early 2008), the transportation impact of the expansion will likely be less than that of the UWGP plant because trucks already deliver to the Didion plant. The customers of the existing plant include the brewing, snack food, cereal manufacturing, bread manufacturing, flour batter, ingredient, foundry and fertilizer industries. The plant expansion will add a few more customers, require more inputs and produce additional products. One employee at Didion expected that an additional 5 - 15 trucks/day arriving would be a reasonable estimate of the expansion's transportation impact.
Didion's milling operation is on the right in the photo; the ethanol part of the plant (under construction in 2007) is on the left. Image taken by Bill Gardner, Wisconsin & Southern Railroad on August 6, 2007.
More details are available at http://www.didionmilling.com/aboutUsMain.aspx.
Additional Resources on Biofuels
Ethanol Production Impacts Transportation System (June 2007) (PDF)
NADO Research Foundation
Infrastructure Requirements for an Expanded Fuel Ethanol Industry (2002) (PDF)
Downstream Alternatives, Inc.
A Guide for Evaluating the Requirements of Ethanol Plants (2006) (PDF)
Clean Fuels Development Coalition and Nebraska Ethanol Board in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture
Potential Infrastructure Constraints on Ethanol Production in Iowa (PDF)
Roger G. Ginder, Iowa State University Extension
Wind Energy
The Montfort Windfarm is owned by the Florida Power and Light Energy Company. The footprint of the windfarm (the base of the towers, the operation area around the towers and the road servicing the towers) includes about 15 acres of the surrounding grain field that were taken out of production, which is equal to about .4 acres per turbine.
Construction occurred in 2001. The 20 individual towers plus blade are each about 330 feet tall. Each tower is topped by a nacelle, each one of which generates 1.5 megawatts of power at optimal conditions (average generation is about 27 - 32 percent of that). The tower and blades were segmented during transportation to the site. The nacelle weighs about 60 tons. None of the pieces required a waiver from national highway weight limits; however, the blades were long enough that they required a convoy during highway transportation. Subsequent to construction, the impact on the transportation system has been generally minimal, with a service truck periodically visiting the site.
For more information on the Montfort Windfarm, visit http://www.fplenergy.com/portfolio/pdf/montfort.pdf (PDF).
Left: The full height of the individual wind power tower/blade/generators is visible at a windfarm in the vicinity of Montfort, Wisconsin. In the bottom left is Martin Weiss of the FHWA. Center: Martin Weiss, Carol Anderson of Montfort Windfarm and Joni Graves of Southwestern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission pose beside the base of an individual wind power tower, demonstrating the great size of the tower. Right: Joni Graves inspects a cut-away cross section of a wind turbine blade. Images taken July 31, 2007 by Dennis Leong of Wisconsin DOT.
Additional Resources on Wind Energy
Wind Industry Promises Rural Jobs, Transportation Challenges
National Association of Development Organizations Research Foundation
Rural Transportation Newsletter, February 2008
Coal-to-Liquid
Rentech operates an industrial facility in East Dubuque, Illinois, which uses natural gas as a feedstock to produce ammonia. The feedstock arrives via pipeline, and the ammonia leaves the operation by either rail or highway. Rentech is in the process of studying a possible switch to one which will use coal as the main feedstock using gasification technology. This may have an impact on the local transportation system as the feedstock is changed and production may increase.
In addition, Rentech plans to build a commercial synthetic fuels plant (coal-to-liquid) in Natchez, Mississippi. Phase one of site construction is expected to be complete by 2011 and will produce 1,600 barrels of transportation fuel per day. Subsequently, phase two expansion of the site will produce an additional 28,000 barrels of fuel per day. Transportation issues will include the delivery of feedstock to the site, distribution of the fuel, and transport of the captured carbon to Denbury Resources for oil recovery in the region.
For more information, visit Rentech's Web site at http://www.rentechinc.com.