Renewable Energy Report: January 2017 Report

The Renewable Fuels Monthly Report is produced as a partnership between the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center operated by the Value Added Agriculture Program at Iowa State Extension and Outreach (ISUEO), the Iowa Grain Quality Initiative (IGQI), an ISUEO program directed specifically at grain processing and handling, and is authored by Decision Innovation Solutions, LLC, an economic research and analysis firm located in Urbandale, Iowa.

In this month’s report, we look at the amount of corn consumed in dry and wet mill ethanol production as well as monthly production of co-products. This exploratory data analysis work is based on the Grain Crushing and Co-Products Production report published by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA-NASS). Grain crushing and co-products had been reported by a different agency and NASS’ survey-based approach started in Feb 19, 2015 under the Current Agricultural Industrial Reports program. This analysis is based on the NASS data published from Feb. 19, 2015 to Dec. 3, 2016, which covers a two year time period.

Biodiesel production in the United States in 2015 reached a volume of 1.263 billion gallons, declining 1.2% from the 2014 level (1.278 billion gallons) (see Figure 1). Production from January to September 2016 was up 19.7% to 1.128 billion gallons compared with the same period last year (0.943 billion gallons). According to the December forecast by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA, 2016a), 2016 U.S. biodiesel production is expected to increase 20.1% to 1.518 billion gallons/year (99,000 barrels/day) compared with 2015, and EIA projects a 5% biodiesel production growth in 2017 (1.594 billion gallons or 104,000 barrels/day).

The $1/gallon biodiesel tax credit implemented in 2005 has played a role in the development of the biodiesel industry. The tax credit has had extensions, and also has been allowed to expire temporarily, creating uncertainty in the industry. On December 2015, Congress retroactively extended the tax credit for two years, from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2016. 

An interesting research synthesis based on an article on U.S. consumers willingness to pay more for 2nd generation biofuels than conventional fuel, written by Jill McCluskey, Washington State University, can be found here...

The spreadsheets listed below provide data and trends for various components of the renewable energy industry. These files are updated with new information each month.