Last week DOE released a new funding opportunity announcement for up to $480 million for pilot-scale and demonstration-scale integrated biorefinery projects. An integrated biorefinery uses an “acceptable feedstock” to produce a biofuel or bioproduct as the “primary product.” Acceptable feedstocks include:

  • Algae
  • Certain woody biomass
  • Renewable plant materials so long as it is not generally intended for use

USDA Rural Business-Cooperative Service is accepting applications for $18 million in Value-Added Producer Grants.  Funds are available for value-added agricultural projects, including farm-based renewable energy projects, for either planning or working capital purposes.  Examples of eligible projects include developing ethanol and biodiesel plants, pelletizing biomass and installing anaerobic digesters.

The maximum grant award is $100,000 for

On, May 5, 2009, President Obama announced federal efforts to increase investment and use of advanced biofuels. The President signed a Presidential Directive establishing the Biofuels Interagency Working Group, ordering the Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) to implement financing opportunities from the Food Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (“FCEA”), and announcing additional Recovery Act funds for renewable

We announce the publication of a guide to federal clean energy funding opportunities under the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (“ARRA”). Titled “Show Me The Money,” the guide reviews the various programs and potential sources of federal funding for clean energy companies and projects. The guide addresses funding opportunities under the

Washington State’s legislature has passed a bill expanding the Energy Freedom Program and the uses to which the Energy Freedom Account can be put.  Previously, funds from the Energy Freedom Account could be applied to biofuels projects only, and appropriations from the Energy Freedom Account to a separate account – the Green Energy Incentive Account – could be

Biofuels Journal and Wind Today Magazine are hosting this free webinar on April 14, 2009 at 2 p.m. Central Time.

Please join me and my colleague, Graham Noyes, as we discuss the Obama Administration’s economic stimulus package and how it will impact the wind and biofuels industries.

REGISTER HERE: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/244944960  

There will also be

President Obama issues ban on executive branch officials from speaking to lobbyists on specific stimulus projects
Continue Reading President Obama Clamps Down on Lobbyists and First Amendment

The Internal Revenue Service has issued a new private letter ruling in which it concluded that a cellulosic ethanol plant is eligible for special bonus depreciation.  The IRS concluded in PLR 200910007 that a taxpayer’s demonstration plant would qualify even though the plant will produce ethanol through fermentation subsequent to hydrolysis rather than as a

Congressional leaders have just announced that they have reached an agreement on the details of a stimulus package.  The details have yet to be announced, other than the total cost of the bill is estimated to be $789 billion.  That amount is less than either the House or Senate bill.

We will post details as

The National Grain and Feed Association reports that at the International Feed Expo in Atlanta on January 27, Dr. Daniel McChesney of the Food and Drug Administration spoke about studies the agency has reviewed concerning distillers’ grains, the main by-product of ethanol, and glycerin, the main by-product of biodiesel.
Continue Reading Is More Bad By-Product News Coming for Biofuels Producers?