A September groundbreaking marked the official start of South Dakota’s largest economic development project: a sustainable aviation fuel facility estimated at more than $1 billion to be built by Colorado-based Gevo Inc. “It’s the first of its kind in the world,” said Steve Westra, commissioner of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. Gevo selected the site for its project, called Net-Zero 1, after 18 months of due diligence, the company said. The company aims to eliminate greenhouse gases from transportation fuels, including sustainable aviation fuel, also known as SAF, renewable gasoline and diesel fuel. It also has a development facility in Luverne, Minnesota. “Lake Preston met the company’s criteria for a site, which needed to include the availability of low-carbon/sustainably grown corn, access to rail and local acceptance of wind energy usage,” said Heather Manuel, vice president of corporation communications. “This site and all future sites need to offer an appealing mix of attributes that enable the company to produce transportation fuels with the lowest carbon footprint possible.” In Lake Preston, Gevo estimates it will need 35 million bushels of sustainable corn each year. “It will help the ag community beyond belief,” Westra said. “I think we’ll see a more consistent marketplace for corn, and that really helps the locally grown corn market.” The approach fits the state’s strategy of supporting value-added agriculture, he added. “We want to get our ag community the highest value we can for their products before they leave the state, and that’s really where the Gevo project fit well,” he said. The approach also is a perfect example of the way the biotechnology industry uniquely thrives in a state like South Dakota, said Joni Ekstrum, executive director of South Dakota Biotech. “Bioscience exists to help us feed, fuel and heal the world, and Gevo’s project is an exciting example of what that looks like in our state,” she said. “Leveraging local agriculture to produce renewable fuels is exactly what we’re able to achieve in South Dakota, and we couldn’t be more encouraged that an operation like this saw that opportunity.” Gevo plans to hire about 90 full-time employees, with 1,000 employed during construction. https://www.siouxfalls.business/first-of-its-kind-sustainable-aviation-fuel-facility-in-the-world-positions-south-dakota-to-build-on-biofuels-success/