Oct. 13, 2021

This paid piece is sponsored by South Dakota Biotech.

The first POET solar farm now is helping power the company’s corporate headquarters in Sioux Falls, serving as an example of POET’s ability to construct similar projects for others.

“At POET, we believe it’s critical we return to our agricultural roots, using the sun, the soil and the seed – in this case, the sun – to power and feed our world,” founder and CEO Jeff Broin said.

“We’ve been powering our world from below the surface of the earth for 120 years, and we need to return to the way we fed and fueled the world prior to that, which is above the surface of the earth – the things that God provides to power and feed our world.”

The solar farm’s completion comes as POET recently released its inaugural sustainability report, in which the world’s largest producer of biofuel pledged to transition its bioprocessing facilities to carbon neutrality by 2050.

“Without question, the last few years the drive toward lower carbon and the acceleration of the climate crisis caused us to look at solar power more seriously than we have in the past,” Broin said. 

The solar farm includes six rows of solar panels adjacent to POET’s campus in northeast Sioux Falls. It is the largest on-site solar project in the city, generating renewable power equal to the annual electricity use of 90 homes and offsetting 630,000 pounds of carbon emissions each year.

The solar energy produced will make not only POET’s headquarters more sustainable, but also the community of Sioux Falls. Any excess solar power generated at POET will be used by the local grid to supply homes and buildings with renewable power.

“The facility was designed by our engineers, construction management was handled by our team at POET, and we’re announcing we’d be interested in providing those services to other businesses,” Broin said.

POET has robust design and construction capability, and the team enjoyed building the solar park, its leaders added.

“Office buildings like POET’s do well with solar energy because they are typically only used during the daytime,” said Rod Pierson, general manager and vice president of POET Design and Construction. “Because the electrical load of the building is highest during the day, solar energy is a good fit as a clean, renewable power source. We can work with larger commercial businesses to explore solar options to reduce their carbon intensity and offset energy costs.”

Other POET team members volunteered to help with installation of the solar farm.

“The solar farm is one more example of how POET is serving as a leader in sustainability for South Dakota,” said Joni Ekstrum, executive director of South Dakota Biotech.

“We’re excited by the potential this green-energy technology represents and expect POET will find significant interest in this new offering for other businesses.”

POET further outlined the company’s focus on environmental, social and governance initiatives in its sustainability report. View the full report at poet.com/sustainability.

Its ESG goals include the achievement of net-zero carbon at its bioprocessing facilities by 2050 in addition to ensuring that its renewable, plant-based bioethanol reduces greenhouse gas emissions by at least 70 percent compared with gasoline by 2030. According to a recent study, today’s bioethanol reduces carbon emissions by 46 percent compared with gasoline.

“Because of technology, we are able to return to the surface of the earth and do it efficiently and effectively without changing our quality of life,” Broin said.

“There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, but we’ll be looking at all types of carbon reduction at all our facilities and looking at the economics continually and making improvements based on each location. Solar may work in some cases, but there are numerous other carbon strategies we’re working on at all locations.”

POET also has found that demand has returned to pre-pandemic levels, Broin said.

“Our plants are running at capacity, so we’re at full employment, and everything in the biofuels sector, I would say, is back to normal.”

The company also is significantly larger than before the pandemic, thanks to the acquisition earlier this year of Kansas-based Flint Hills Resources’ bioethanol assets, expanding the company’s production capacity by 40 percent.

POET is continuing to focus on the integration of that deal, Broin said.

“I believe in business it’s all about the people,” he said. “And we have remarkable people at POET, and they’re doing a fantastic job driving our industry and country to a better future.”