USDA Awards $2.1 Million to 16 Renewable Energy Projects

October 20, 2004

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on October 13th grants of $2.1 million to 16 business ventures related to biomass, wind, and solar energy resources. The grantees include seven projects related to ethanol, four related to converting farm waste into energy, two biodiesel projects, one wind energy project, one solar energy project, and one project to evaluate generating energy, fuel, and other products from low-quality wood resources. The grants will go towards efforts such as creating a business plan for harnessing wind energy in Colorado, determining the feasibility of marketing ethanol from a plant in Illinois, and determining the feasibility of converting dairy biogas in Idaho into either automotive fuel or a high-purity gas for distribution by pipeline.

The renewable energy ventures are part of $13.1 million in agricultural product market development grants announced by USDA last week. These "value-added" grants are aimed at refining agricultural commodities and products to increase their value in the market place. See the USDA press release, the list of recipients, and the project descriptions (PDF 156 KB). Download Acrobat Reader.