Hairy Hill Integrated bioRefinery™ Project Prepares for Intensified Construction Period in 2010
October 19, 2009
For Immediate Release

Hairy Hill, AB. Growing Power Hairy Hill (“GPHH”) is developing Canada’s first Integrated bioRefinery, a $100+ million facility that will produce Green Power, bioFertilizer and Fuel Ethanol in a food PLUS fuel way.

Integrated bioRefinery Prepares for 2010

The GPHH Integrated bioRefinery project is preparing for an intensified period of construction in 2010, contingent on final financing from both private and government sources. The GPHH facility, made up of an ethanol production plant and one of the world’s largest Anaerobic Digestion plants, will be on line in 2011, producing the most energy efficient fuels commercially available.

The construction schedule will see the existing Anaerobic Digestion plant on the GPHH site shut down for an extended period of time while it is expanded 400% and updated with the latest technology.

Benefits

During the construction period, across all full-time and part-time, direct and indirect jobs, GPHH will generate over 2,000 person-months of employment for tradespeople, engineers, and corporate personnel. Before construction is completed, the new facility will also hire over 20 ongoing full time, skilled staff into the area. It will also deliver more training/skills in plant operations and maintenance for existing staff as well as at the adjacent feedlot. Naturally, given that this project is over $100 million in value, the Counties of Two Hills and Minburn will enjoy the spin-off benefits of having more activity. During this time of economic doom & gloom, GPHH will be a shot in the arm for local restaurants, hotels, grocery stores, supply depots and tool vendors—among others—not only during construction but well into the lifetime of the community.

What’s Under the Hood

The GPHH facility will produce 40 million liters of fuel ethanol annually from 4 million bushels of locallly grown wheat which is purchased through Providence Grain Group Inc. who is also an investor in the project.  The ethanol plant is powered by almost 100% renewable energy made from over 400 tonnes of feedlot cattle manure each and every day. This is a triple-win made possible by the patented technology of Highmark Renewables Research L.P., a Canadian renewable energy success story. Using Highmark’s IMUSTM (Integrated bioMass Utilization System) know-how, trade secrets, and patented science, GPHH reduces the odor and nutrient loading issues associated with stockpiling and land-applying manure.

Other Highmark technologies apply to municipal sewer systems and landfills in towns ranging from the size of Two Hills to millions of people, converting sewage and green waste to renewable energy.

GPHH turns ‘waste’ into a resource that produces a truly renewable vehicle fuel. Doing it this way reduces greenhouse gas and other pollution in a very significant way. Then, at the end of the process, all that is good about manure (a natural, soil enhancing fertilizer) is preserved in a nutrient-stabilized, odor-free, bio-based fertilizer.

GPHH ethanol will be produced in the most energy efficient commercial ethanol process in North America. A recent Life Cycle Analysis of the GPHH process shows that the carbon intensity of ethanol produced in this way is less than 8.5g/MJ (for reference, gasoline is about 95g/MJ). British Columbia, California and other jurisdictions are implementing strict regulations to reduce the carbon intensity of gasoline fuels to around 85g/MJ: GPHH ethanol is at least ten times lower than these stringent targets and lower than cellulosic or sugar cane-derived ethanol!

In terms of energy efficiency, there is so little non-renewable energy used in the production of ethanol at GPHH that it will stand out as the most energy efficient ethanol production facility in North America. GPHH is predicting an energy balance of 7.6-to-1. This means that for every unit of non-renewable energy used in the farming, transport, production and distribution related to the production of ethanol at GPHH, 7.6 units of ethanol energy are generated. This is far, far more energy efficient than the production of ethanol in a stand-alone facility (which is about 1.3-to-1 in the US Midwest) or the production of gasoline (at only 0.8-to-1).

Due to the use of renewable energy and the process efficiencies made possible by integrating the ethanol and Anaerobic Digestion plants, GPHH will reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions in Alberta by more than 100,000 tonnes per year. GPHH will be a significant positive contributor to Alberta’s Greenhouse Gas reduction goals.

GPHH eagerly anticipates beginning operations in Two Hills County of the GPHH Integrated bioRefineryTM. This project will be a Canadian first and a world leader in terms of economic impact, employment, and our environment.

About GPHH

Growing Power Hairy Hill L.P. is an Alberta-owned, private limited partnership with offices in Hairy Hill, Alberta and Edmonton, Alberta. It has over 100 direct and indirect investors, and has garnered support from SDTC (Sustainable Development Technology Canada), FCC (Farm Credit Corporation), AFSC (Alberta Financial Services Corporation), and Alberta’s provincial Ministry of Energy. GPHH is led by two sets of brothers, the Kotelkos and the Chrapkos who have individually and collectively proven their entrepreneurial skills and technology-commercialization savvy at world-class levels over a number of years.

For more information contact:
Evan Chrapko, CEO
(403) 585-3826

www.GrowingPower.com             www.Highmark.ca             EvanChrapko@gmail.com