http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=47600The Department of Energy (DOE) announced yesterday it will invest up to $385 million to aid in the development of six U.S. biorefinery projects over the next four years. When fully operational, the plants are expected to produce more than 130 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol per year.
The funding opportunity, announced a year ago, was initially for three biorefineries and $160 million. However, in an effort to expedite the goals of President Bush's Advanced Energy Initiative and help achieve the goals of his "Twenty in Ten Initiative", DOE Secretary Samuel W. Bodman raised the funding cap.
The Initiative, which Bush revealed in his State of the Union Address in January, aims to increase the use of renewable and alternative fuels in the transportation sector to the equivalent of 35 billion gallons of ethanol a year -- and reduce America's gasoline consumption by 20 percent -- by 2017.
"We had a number of very good proposals, but these six were considered 'meritorious' by a merit review panel made up of bioenergy experts. So I thought it would be best to front-end some more funding now, so that we could all reap the benefits of the President's vision sooner," said Secretary Bodman.
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