Strong ethanol margins bring South Dakota’s Red River Energy plant back online

In South Dakota, the 25 million gallon Red River Energy ethanol plant in Rosholt is re-opening after an idle period that stretches back to early 2013, according to press reports.

In an interview with the Watertown (SD) Public Opinion,  general manager Rick Serie said “The margins are good in ethanol, corn is abundant at this point with a record crop coming in. We’re optimistic about our future here. We have to get up and operating at full capacity, but we see good margins being a success for the investors and the community.

Serie noted that there might be an elongated ramp-up process after the plant went through an 18-month shutdown, but management was not only confident that the plant would operate at full capacity, they tipped an expansion in capacity to as much as 40 million gallons — though feedstock sources were not disclosed. The company also said that it expected to increase storage capacity onsite for ethanol and distiller’s grains, as well as installing corn oil extraction technology.

Back in 2011, the former North County Ethanol pant was auctioned to new owners after the small ICM-retofitted facility ran into economic hardships following the global financial crisis.