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If the project were to move forward, financing and construction could take up to six years.

Bis dahin könnte Silverado schon lange im Geschäft sein.


Great River Energy joins liquid-coal effort
Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal - 12:23 PM CDT Friday, May 25, 2007
by Carissa Wyant
Staff Writer


Great River Energy is teaming up with two other energy providers on a new type of coal-energy project.

The Elk River-based energy cooperative is partnering with Headwaters Energy Services and The North American Coal Corp. to explore the development of a North Dakota coal-based refinery to pursue coal-to-liquid transportation fuels and electricity.

The companies have established a single venture, American Lignite Energy, which will evaluate the project.

Coal-to-liquid plants refine coal into a form that can be used to fuel trucks, planes and cars. Other countries, such as South Africa, already use the technology.

It is one of the latest examples of new technologies touted by coal producers, who are looking to create a new market for a resource that is abundant in the United States but has been fingered for its role in global warming.

American Lignite Energy will continue activities to determine if development of a coal-based refinery is viable in North Dakota. The new facility would produce 32,000 barrels of fuel per day.

Final site identification is under way. If the project were to move forward, financing and construction could take up to six years.

This would be the first coal-to-liquid project for Great River Energy, a not-for-profit generation and transmission cooperative that provides electricity to 28 distribution cooperatives in Minnesota and Wisconsin.