Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc1811 Aksarben Drive , Omaha, Nebraska, United States

Green Plains is a vertically integrated ethanol producer based in Omaha, Nebraska. We currently have an ethanol production capacity of approximately 1.1 billion gallons per year with our 13 plants strategically located across the U.S. We also operate an independent third party ethanol marketing business, Green Plains Trade.

Distillers grains are an important co-product of Green Plains’ ethanol production. At capacity our plants will produce approximately 3.1 million tons of distillers grains annually that will be used as a high-protein, high-energy animal fodder and feed supplement. Corn oil is a processing residue from ethanol production that is recovered at all of our plants. Corn oil is sold to biodiesel manufacturers and to feed lot and poultry markets.  Green Plains also provides grain storage through our Subsidiary – Green Plains Grain. Green Plains Grain has grain storage capacity of approximately 46 million bushels, including on-site storage at our ethanol plants, that is used to support our grain merchandising activities, as well as our ethanol plant operations. We believe that incorporating this business segment into our operations increases efficiencies and reduces commodity price and supply risks.  Looking to next generation technology, Green Plains is part of a joint venture called BioProcess Algae to commercialize algae production technology. In addition to Green Plains, the other partners in the venture are CLARCOR Inc. and BioProcess H2O. The project, located at Green Plains in Shenandoah, Iowa, received a grant from the Iowa Office of Energy Independence totaling $4.1 million.

Ethanol Production

Our ethanol production segment includes the production of ethanol, distillers grains and corn oil recovery at 13 ethanol plants in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Texas. At capacity, we expect to process approximately 390 million bushels of corn per year and produce approximately 1.1 billion gallons of ethanol, 3.1 million tons of distillers grains and recover 280 million pounds of industrial grade corn oil, making us the second largest consolidated owner of ethanol plants in North America.

OUR GROWTH STRATEGY

We intend to continue to take a disciplined approach in evaluating new opportunities related to potential acquisition of additional ethanol plants by considering whether the plants fit within the design, engineering and geographic criteria we have developed. We also plan to continue to grow our downstream access to customers and are actively seeking new marketing opportunities with other ethanol producers. Additionally, we are a partner in a joint venture, BioProcess Algae LLC, formed to commercialize advanced photo-bioreactor technologies for the growing and harvesting of algal biomass.

OUR COMPETITIVE STRENGTHS

• We believe risk management is a core competency of ours. Our primary focus is to lock in favorable operating margins whenever possible. We do not speculate on general price movements by taking significant unhedged positions on commodities such as corn, ethanol or natural gas. Our comprehensive risk management platform allows us to monitor real-time commodity price risk exposure at each of our plants, and to respond quickly to lock in acceptable margins or to temporarily reduce production levels at our ethanol plants during periods of compressed margins. By using a variety of risk management tools and hedging strategies, including our internally-developed real-time operating margin management system, we believe we are able to maintain a disciplined approach to risk management.
• All of our plants are staffed by experienced industry personnel. We focus on continuous incremental operational improvements to enhance overall production efficiencies, and we share operational knowledge across our plants. Using real-time production data and control systems, we continually monitor our plants in an effort to optimize performance. We believe our ability to improve operating efficiencies provides an operating cost advantage over most of our competitors. In turn, we believe we are well positioned to increase operating margins for any facilities that we may acquire in the future.
• Our senior management team averages approximately 25 years of commodity risk management and related industry experience. We have specific expertise across all aspects of the ethanol supply, production, and distribution chain – from agribusiness, to plant operations and management, to commodity markets and risk management, to ethanol marketing and distribution. We believe the level of operational and financial expertise of our management team will prove critical in successfully executing our business strategies.
• We believe U.S. ethanol production capacity is poised for further consolidation and have demonstrated the ability to make strategic acquisitions that we believe create synergies within our vertically integrated platform and enhance our ability to mitigate risks. Our balance sheet allows us to be opportunistic in that process. Since our inception, we have acquired or developed 13 ethanol plants in addition to upstream grain handling and storage businesses, a cattle-feeding operation and downstream terminal and distribution services. We have corn oil recovery technology at all of our ethanol plants to generate incremental returns from this value-added product. We believe such acquisitions, developments and improvements have been successfully integrated into our business and have enhanced our overall returns.
• We believe our operations throughout the ethanol value chain reduce our commodity and operating risks, and increase our pricing visibility and influence in key markets. Combined, we believe our agribusiness, ethanol production, corn oil recovery, and marketing and distribution segments provide efficiencies across the ethanol value chain, from grain procurement to blending fuel. Our agribusiness operations help to reduce our supply risk by providing grain handling and storage capabilities. Using our logistical capabilities and expertise, we market and distribute ethanol, distillers grains, corn oil and other commodity products. Our corn oil systems are designed to recover non-edible corn oil that has multiple industrial uses. Our fuel terminals allow us to source, store, blend and distribute ethanol and biodiesel across multiple states.

Services

• We are the third largest ethanol producer in the world. We currently operate 13 ethanol plants in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Texas, with approximately 1.1 billion gallons per year of total ethanol production capacity. At capacity, these plants collectively handle and process 11 million tons of corn and produce over 3.1 million tons of distillers grains annually.
• An important co-product of the ethanol production process is distillers grains. Our ethanol production segment has the capacity to produce approximately 1.1 billion gallons per year of ethanol and as a result, we produce co-products such as wet, modified wet or dried distillers grains. 
• We are operating corn oil recovery systems at all of our ethanol plants. The corn oil systems we installed are designed to recover non-edible corn oil from the thin stillage evaporation process immediately prior to production of distillers grains
• Green Plains Grain, a wholly owned subsidiary of Green Plains Inc., is a bulk grain storage business. It has four facilities across Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas and on-site storage at our ethanol plants
• We market ethanol in different geographic locations around the U.S. and have built an in-house, fee based marketing business that provides ethanol marketing services to other producers in the ethanol industry.
• Green Plains Cattle Company is the fourth largest cattle-feeding operation in the United States with total capacity of more than 355,000 head of cattle at facilities in Colorado, Kansas, and Texas.