(USDA) Expansion of Biofuels Reaches All Regions of the Country Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced January 20, 2011, that biofuels and biomass energy projects across America have been selected for funding to continue the Administration's support for the development of renewable
loan guarantees
Back TO HOMEEnerkem Awarded Loan Guarantee from U.S. Department of Agriculture for Its Mississippi Waste-to-Fuel Biorefinery
(Enerkem) Enerkem Inc. today announced that Enerkem Corporation, its wholly-owned U.S. affiliate, has obtained a conditional commitment for an US$ 80 million loan guarantee by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), for the construction of its landmark waste-to-biofuels project in Pontotoc, Mississippi, which
January 20, 2011 Read Full Article
Much-Touted Cellulosic Ethanol Is Late in Making Mandated Appearance
by Dina Fine Maron (ClimateWire/New York Times) ...U.S. EPA figures indicate that in the second half of 2010, not a drop of cellulosic ethanol -- a much-touted fuel that taps the sugars from farm wastes and other non-food sources of
January 12, 2011 Read Full Article
The USDA Loan Guarantee Program and the Congressional Deficit-Reducing Drive
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...At risk in that budget process is the entire funding for the Section 9003 loan guarantee program – in the omnibus spending bill proposed in December by the outgoing Congress, zeroing out 9003 is exactly
January 06, 2011 Read Full Article
INEOS Bio JV Receives Commitment for $75 Million USDA Loan Guarantee
(INEOS Bio) Funding will create jobs through the construction and completion of advanced commercial facility in Florida INEOS Bio and its joint venture partner, New Planet Energy, today announced they have received a conditional commitment for a $75 million loan guarantee
January 05, 2011 Read Full Article
Top 10 Biofuels Predictions for 2011
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...For our 2010 batch of predictions, we give ourselves 6 marks out of 10. We gave ourselves 1 full mark for predicting the spread of Low Carbon Fuel Standard activity, the boom in renewable chemicals, a
December 31, 2010 Read Full Article
The True Brew – Answers to Your “Biofuels Fact or Fiction” Questions
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Today, we'll reach into the mailbag and voicemail box and shed some light on topics both important and bizarre, in our occasional "Biofuels Fact or Fiction" series. Q. Will the USDA really issue new loan guarantees
December 30, 2010 Read Full Article
America Needs New Investment: In the Next Generation of Biofuels
by Christopher G. Standlee (Abengoa Energy/The Hill's Congress Blog) ...(T)here is bipartisan support for answering an urgent national challenge: replacing imported high-pollution petroleum with clean-burning American biofuels. ...There is bipartisan support for biofuels because their development, production and use serve great
November 22, 2010 Read Full Article
Fulcrum BioEnergy Project Selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to Advanced to the Final Stage for a Loan Guarantee
(Fulcrum BioEnergy) Fulcrum Receives Detailed Term Sheet Proposal from DOE Fulcrum BioEnergy, Inc. announced November 16, 2010, that the U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) has selected Fulcrum’s Sierra BioFuels Plant to enter the final phase of DOE’s Loan Guarantee Program. Fulcrum has
November 21, 2010 Read Full Article
Summary of Cellulosic Biofuels Finance & Investment Forum
by Joanne Ivancic (Advanced Biofuels USA) Faith and Belief. Most impressive about the 2010 Cellulosic Biofuels Finance & Investment Forum, as compared to the 2009 event, was the whiff of positive belief that somehow, some way, cellulosic biofuels are becoming
November 15, 2010 Read Full Article
Utilities’ Perspectives on Biomass-to-Power Opportunities
by Cindy O'Connor (Advanced Biofuels USA) Washington, DC Biomass Finance & Investment Summit, October 13-15 2010: Friday Session Highlights The physical location of the utility plants determines the biomass –to –power opportunities. Reed Willis, President, ADAGE (Duke Energy investor) said currently power is
November 12, 2010 Read Full Article
U.S. Biofuel Production, Use Lags
by Philip Brasher (Zanesville Times Recorder) Motorists will use just a fraction of the next-generation biofuels in 2011 that Congress intended, and even that small amount depends on a single project in Iowa that isn't ready yet. ... Cellulose and algae are
November 10, 2010 Read Full Article
RFA Urges White House to Support Cellulosic Ethanol
by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com) In a letter hand (delivered) to President Obama this week, RFA President and CEO Bob Dinneen urged the Obama Administration to maintain its commitment to the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol and other advanced biofuels. The RFA letter is
November 10, 2010 Read Full Article
Cellulosic Biofuel Output Will Lag 2011 Requirements, EIA Forecast Shows
by Andrew Herndon (Bloomberg) Oil companies won’t be able to get as much cellulosic biofuel as they might need next year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. EIA, a unit of the Energy Department that compiles industry data, expects cellulosic biofuel
November 08, 2010 Read Full Article
Obama May Kill Key DOE Loan Guarantee Program
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Washington, the Obama Administration developed and has been debating an option to kill the Section 1705 DOE Loan Guarantee program, and transfer remaining funds to a pool for Section 1603 investment tax credits that, as currently
November 08, 2010 Read Full Article
Financing Fix: Change Needed to Help Ensure Clean Energy
(BioTechNOW) Congress urged to restore funding to DOE Loan Guarantee Program Growth of clean energy has been stifled, biofuel advocacy groups maintain, by a lack of funding and shortcomings in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Guarantee Program for advanced biofuels. DOE established
October 14, 2010 Read Full Article
Biofuel Project Hits Bureaucratic Snag
by Ron Brochu (BusinessNorth.com) ...Federal loan guarantees are available to support construction of the high-tech Flambeau River Biofuels refinery in Park Falls, but project sponsors say the government’s terms could derail their chance to succeed. Those Department of Energy terms, they
October 12, 2010 Read Full Article
Biofuels Incentives: A Summary of Federal Programs
by Brent D. Yacobucci (Congressional Research Service) ...Ethanol and biodiesel, the two most widely used biofuels, receive significant government support under federal law in the form of mandated fuel use, tax incentives, loan and grant programs, and certain regulatory requirements. The
October 12, 2010 Read Full Article
Cleantech Stimulus Still Not Stimulating
by David Gold (RenewableEnergyWorld.com) ...While stimulus supporters and the press love to focus on the selection of award winners for grants and loans, funds appropriated but sitting in the U.S. Treasury have zero potential to stimulate the economy irrespective of
September 29, 2010 Read Full Article
The Biorefinery Project of the Future: A 10-Part Series
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...We have spoken to farmers, local business owners, environmentalists, community development officials, engine developers, scientists, policy makers, producers, investors, lenders, blenders, wholesalers, retailers, and end users. We have visited development projects on four continents. We have
September 22, 2010 Read Full Article
BlueFire Renewables Secures 15-Year Off-Take Agreement with Tenaska BioFuels for Mississippi Cellulosic Ethanol Facility
(PRNewswire) Contract Is Among First of Its Kind in U.S. BlueFire Renewables, Inc., a company focused on changing the world's transportation fuel paradigm through the production of renewable fuels from non-food cellulosic wastes, has announced an off-take agreement with Tenaska BioFuels,
September 22, 2010 Read Full Article
Obama Signs Bill Trimming DOE Renewable Energy Loan Total
by Jean Chemnick (Platts) US President Barack Obama on Tuesday signed legislation that would fund emergency assistance to various states, partly through the trimming of $1.5 billion in funding for renewable energy loan guarantees. The US House of Representatives approved the
August 12, 2010 Read Full Article
Department of Energy Extends Renewable Energy Loan Guarantee Solicitation
(US Department of Energy) Secretary Steven Chu announced today that the Department of Energy is extending the application deadline for the July 2009 energy efficiency, renewable energy and advanced transmission and distribution technologies solicitation. The Round 8, Part 1 application deadline
August 10, 2010 Read Full Article
Biofuels Industry Blames Washington for Holding Back Cellulosic Ethanol
by Stacy Feldman (SolveClimate) Industry rips failing DOE loan program on the heels of EPA's decision to slash cellulosic biofuel mandate. ...EPA announced it expects 5 to 17.1 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol to be blended into the nation's fuels in 2011,
July 21, 2010 Read Full Article
GAO Report Urges Changes to DOE Loan Guarantee Programs
(Renewable Fuels Association) ...“Access to capital is a chief hindrance to the commercial deployment of cellulosic ethanol technology,” said RFA President and CEO Bob Dinneen. “DOE has created a loan guarantee program that in theory is helpful, but in practice
July 14, 2010 Read Full Article
Department of Energy: Futher Actions Are Needed to Improve DOE's Ability to Evaluate and Implement the Loan Guarantee Program
(US Government Accountability Office) Since the Department of Energy's (DOE) loan guarantee program (LGP) for innovative energy projects was established in Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, its scope has expanded both in the types of projects it
July 14, 2010 Read Full Article
The Song That Never Ends: the Financing of Cellulosic Ethanol
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...The Infinite Loop in financing cellulosic ethanol is the setting of conditions for loan guarantees by the Department of Energy which cannot be fulfilled; the insistence of project financiers that, without loan guarantees, project financing
June 24, 2010 Read Full Article
ABFA President to Congress: Advanced BioFuels Will Drive America's New Economy and Fuel the Future
(Advanced Biofuels Association) Advanced Biofuels Association President Michael McAdams briefed the House Agriculture Committee this afternoon, telling its members, "It's time to take politics out of renewable fuels and let sound science and sound energy policy govern biofuels policy moving
June 24, 2010 Read Full Article
Smart Bioenergy: Guiding Sustainable Bio-Based Energy and Fuels Development
(Union of Concerned Scientists) The Billion Gallon Challenge: Advanced Biofuels from diverse sources such as grasses and agricultural waste hold the promise of sustainably reducing U.S. oil dependence and global warming emissions. Unfortunately the advanced biofuels industry not been able to
June 17, 2010 Read Full Article
Renewable Fuels Association Writes to USDA on Proposed Rule on Biorefinery Assistance Guaranteed Loan Program
by Bob Dinneen (Renewable Fuels Association) ...The technology exists to process ethanol from cellulose feedstocks; however, the commercialization of cellulose ethanol remains a question of economics. The capital investment necessary to build cellulose facilities remain about five times that of
June 17, 2010 Read Full Article
The Name is Bond, part II: Financiers Find Biofuels Financing Options in Bond Market
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...Although equity investors (primarily strategics and venture capitalists) and the government grant market has continued to participate strongly in biofuels investing, the debt market that typically represents up to 80 percent of commercial scale financing
May 17, 2010 Read Full Article
The Name is Bond: New Concepts in Bond Financing May Break Biofuels Finance Logjam
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) A team from the investment bank Stern Brothers, the law firms Mintz Levin and Kreig DeVault have developed a bond-oriented approach that has received favorable initial reaction from the USDA, and may well break the logjam
May 14, 2010 Read Full Article
The Presidential Biofuels Directive: One Year Later, Where Are We?
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...The invite-only meeting, which attracted more than 100 attendees, was structured around two panels, one focused primarily on policy and led by USDA Chief Economist Joe Glauber and featuring biofuels consortium head Jose Olivares (Los
May 14, 2010 Read Full Article
Vilsack: USDA Needs to Take Chances
by Jerry Hagstrom (Ag Week) Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said at a White House clean energy forum May 6 that USDA may have to take bigger chances with its business loan guarantees if it is going to finance energy plants
May 14, 2010 Read Full Article
Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Invites Public Comment on Proposed Rules for USDA Renewable Energy Programs
(USDA) Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack April 16, 2010, invited public comment on several proposed rules designed to increase the production of advanced biofuels and the development of biorefineries. The programs are authorized under the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (The
April 20, 2010 Read Full Article
Over There: The Yanks are Coming (同胞, Can You Spare a Dime?)
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) BIO exec VP Brent Erickson ruefully noted in a conference with reporters that the biofuels industry was “very disappointed in the loan guarantee program. Biomass was mixed in with wind and solar, which have much
March 16, 2010 Read Full Article
"This Approach, We Fear, Drives a Systematic Bias toward Lending for Power Generation Projects.”
(Biofuels Digest) A letter to Energy Secretary Chu from 11 cellulosic ethanol CEOs and directors: “The Department is obligated by statute to determine that LGP-funded projects offer a “reasonable prospect of repayment” (EPAct Section 1702(d)(1)). We understand that, at present,
February 09, 2010 Read Full Article
Department of Energy Issues Final Rule on Loan Guarantees
Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the issue of a final rule amending the Department of Energy’s regulations for its Loan Guarantee Program. The revised rule will allow for increased participation in the program by financial institutions and other investors and
December 08, 2009 Read Full Article
US DOE Accepting Applications for Loans to Leading Edge Biofuels Projects
Section 1705 of Title XVII authorizes the Secretary of Energy ("Secretary") to make loan guarantees under this section, notwithstanding Section 1703, for only three categories of projects that commence construction no later than September 30, 2011: (1) "renewable energy systems,
August 24, 2009 Read Full Article
Obama Administration Announces Billions in Lending Authority for Renewable Energy Projects and to Modernize the Grid
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that the Department of Energy will provide up to $30 billion in loan guarantees, depending on the applications and market conditions, for renewable energy projects. Another $750 million will support several billion dollars more