The Spiritwood Energy Park Association has exercised its option to terminate a Key Terms Agreement with North Dakota Soybean Processors for a planned soybean crushing plant at Spiritwood. This effectively ends the connection between North Dakota Soybean Processors and SEPA, according to Connie Ova, manager of SEPA.
The SEPA Board also approved a temporary exclusivity agreement with another firm for the development of an unspecified project at the SEPA industrial park.
The actions came Wednesday during a special meeting of the SEPA Board of Directors. SEPA is jointly owned by the Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corp. and Great River Energy.
SEPA owns and operates the industrial park at Spiritwood that is home to Dakota Spirit AgEnergy and adjacent to Spiritwood Station, a coal-fired electric and steam generating plant.
Minnesota Soybean Processors announced in 2017 plans to build a $287 million soybean processing plant at the industrial park through its subsidiary North Dakota Soybean Processors. The project has been delayed several times while organizers continued an equity drive. The current equity drive is set to expire on Aug. 31.
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SEPA Board members made no motion on a request by North Dakota Soybean Processors to extend the Key Terms Agreement until Sept. 30 before voting to terminate the agreement immediately. The actions took place after discussion in a closed-door executive session by the SEPA Board.
Bruce Hill, chairman of the North Dakota Soybean Processors, had no comment concerning the agreement termination. Hill said in a June 7 Jamestown Sun article the company was in the final push for investors but still needed to raise about $50 million.
The SEPA Board of Directors also met in executive session to discuss granting an exclusivity agreement to what they referred to as "Company X." The agreement is in effect through no later than Jan. 10, 2020, and allows that company exclusive rights to develop an "undefined project that fits within SEPA's mission of value-added agriculture," Ova said.
The SEPA industrial park provides rail infrastructure along with electric, water, wastewater and steam energy resources for industrial users. Plans called for the North Dakota Soybean Processing plant to be built to the south of the rail loop and served by extensions to the rail sidings.
Announced plans for the North Dakota Soybean Processors plant listed its capacity at 127,000 bushels of soybeans per day with the oil processed into biodiesel and other soy oil products. The soy meal would be sold around the region as a livestock feed.
Details such as what it would process or its capacity were not available for the Company X project plan.
