April 23rd

The team tours Big River Resources ethanol facility in Galva. The nameplate capacity of the facility is around 100 million gallons of ethanol per year!

The Big River Resources ethanol facility in Galva.

The team and tour guide tour the facility in the GSE van.

Once the starch has been extracted the solid residue can be processed into animal feed or Destillers Dried Grains (DDGS).

The DDGS is transported to a storage facility at the ethanol plant after being dried.

The team then tours a wind park under construction near Galva with guides from Invenergy who manages the project. A total of 266 wind mills will make up the wind park when it is completed and the total effect is expected to be around 300 MW.

The team visits a site where a wind mill is awaiting assembly.

The team gets a view of the interior of a wind mill.

The team then attends the Galva Rotary club lunch meeting and gives a presentation.

The Galva Rotary club banner.

After lunch the team tours the Swedish colony of Bishop Hill. In 1846, a group of Swedish immigrants seeking religious freedom left Sweden under the guidance of their charismatic spiritual leader, Erik Jansson and finally settled in a place they came to call Bishop Hill. The colony grew and flourished for fifteen years before disbanding in 1861.

A map of Sweden and rate of emigration to America during 1850 - 1900.

The Colony Hotel in Bishop Hill