President Obama Advances Biofuels Production
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DOE to Invest $93M in Wind Power
New Hospital Energy Alliance to Promote Clean Energy
BLM to Invest in Renewable Energy Permitting
Climate Targets Limit Near-Term Use of Fossil Fuels
President Obama To Advance Biofuels Production
President Obama announced that his administration is taking several steps to advance biofuels research and commercialization. He signed a Presidential Directive to help preserve biofuel industry jobs and to establish the Biofuels Interagency Working Group, which will develop the nation's first comprehensive program for advancing the biofuels market.
Obama also announced that DOE will release $786.5 million in Recovery Act funds to accelerate advanced biofuels research, development, and deployment, and that the U.S. EPA has released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the federal Renewable Fuels Standard (see separate articles below). The EPA proposal outlines its strategy for increasing the supply of renewable fuels.
The new Biofuels Interagency Working Group will be co-chaired by the Secretaries of Energy and Agriculture and the EPA Administrator, and it will work with the National Science and Technology Council's Biomass Research and Development Board. It will use existing authorities and identify new policies to support development of next-generation biofuels, increase the use of flexible-fuel vehicles, and assist in retail marketing efforts. The group will also coordinate policies for the infrastructure needed to produce and deliver biofuels and will work toward the sustainable production of biofuel feedstocks, taking into consideration land use, habitat conservation, crop management practices, water efficiency, water quality impacts, and lifecycle assessments of greenhouse gas emissions.
The president also directed Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to preserve employment in the renewable fuels industry by immediately refinancing existing federal investments. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will also make financing from the 2008 farm bill (the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008) available within the next 30 days, including loan guarantees for commercial-scale biorefineries, grants for demonstration-scale biorefineries, expedited funding for installing biomass energy systems at biorefineries, and expedited funding to encourage the production of next-generation biofuels.
The Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements Program, which will be renamed the Rural Energy for America Program, will be expanded to offer guarantees for larger loans and to include energy audits and hydropower projects. Obama also tasked Secretary Vilsack with developing a comprehensive approach to accelerating the investment in and production of biofuels. See the press releases from the White House and the USDA.
DOE to Invest $786.5 Million in Recovery Act Funds in Biofuels
President Obama announced that DOE plans to invest $786.5 million from the Recovery Act to accelerate advanced biofuels R&D and to provide additional funding for biorefinery demonstration projects. The funding for biorefineries will include a $480 million solicitation for pilot- and demonstration-scale "integrated" biorefineries, which produce advanced biofuels, biobased products, and heat and power in a single integrated system. DOE anticipates making 10 to 20 awards for refineries at various scales and designs, all to be operational in the next three years.
The DOE funding ceiling is $25 million for pilot-scale projects and $50 million for demonstration-scale projects. In addition, $176.5 million will be used to increase the DOE funding ceiling on two or more demonstration- or commercial-scale biorefinery projects that were selected and awarded within the last two years. The funds are expected to expedite the construction phase of these projects and ultimately accelerate the timeline for start up and commissioning.
An additional $130 million in funds will support biofuels R&D including $25 million to further support the Bioenergy Research Centers that were established last year and to establish a small-scale integrated biorefinery pilot plant that will be available as a DOE user facility. The remaining funds will be distributed through three competition solicitations, including $20 million to evaluate the impact on conventional vehicles of gasoline blends containing more than 10% ethanol, to optimize the performance of flex-fuel blends running on E85 (a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline), and to upgrade existing refueling infrastructure to be compatible with fuels containing up to 85% ethanol.
An additional $50 million solicitation will support a consortium to develop algae-based biofuels, while a $35 million solicitation will support a consortium to develop other third-generation biofuels, such as green gasoline and green diesel, both of which are biobased hydrocarbon fuels. See the DOE press release and the DOE e-Center notice of the upcoming Funding Opportunity Announcements for the refueling infrastructure upgrades and the advanced fuel consortiums.
