Irish agribusiness ClonBio Group is to invest $500m in a new biorefinery in Jefferson, Wisconsin in the US.
ClonBio's biorefineries use natural processes to refine locally produced grain for use in wide range of applications including proteins and fibres for human and animal nutrition, ethanol for a range of fuel and industrial uses and organic fertiliser for farming.
The family owned agribusiness company is the largest biogas/renewable natural gas market player in four countries in Europe, and operates the world's most technologically advanced grain biorefinery in Hungary, which focuses on plant and single-celled alternative proteins.
ClonBio bought the moth-balled refinery in Jefferson in 2022 and has already invested $100m in its upgrade.
It said incentives in the US Inflation Reduction Act has prompted it to accelerate further investment and the work will lead to the creation of 1,000 jobs in the city.
The announcement was made during Enterprise Ireland's programme of business events in the US for St Patrick's Day, led by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Enterprise Ireland CEO Leo Clancy.
Leo Clancy, CEO of Enterprise Ireland, said that Irish companies are scaling internationally at an accelerated pace, making significant investments and acquisitions in the US and other international markets.
"In the case of ClonBio its investment and R&D internationally also informs its continuing investment in advanced biomethane and recycling and upcycling of waste plastics in Ireland, delivering jobs growth here and boosting Ireland’s economy," Mr Clancy said.
"ClonBio is a market leader in renewable energy and nutrition and their ambitious investment plans for the Wisconsin-based biorefinery will deliver great advancement for a sustainable bioeconomy model," he added.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he was very proud that an Irish company is spearheading this planned investment for a green, sustainable bioeconomy and good jobs.
"We see it is as a model for further Irish-US collaboration with many of the innovations in the Wisconsin plant originating from US companies and inventors, and enabled by Ireland’s world class expertise in agri-food engineering," Mr Varadkar said.
"Ireland is a very open economy, with huge exports relative to our size. We have some extraordinary Irish companies who are the best at what they do globally," he added.
