[Sustainable-biodiesel] FW: North Carolina Biofuels Center Grant Awards

[John Bonitz]

The following announcement details yesterday's grant awards to promote
development and capacity-building of North Carolina's biofuels industries.
I am especially pleased to see the strong consideration given to
sustainability in these awards.

~ ~ ~

John Bonitz,
Farm Outreach & Policy Advocate
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
PO Box 1833, Pittsboro, NC  27312
Phone: 919-545-2920
Mobile: 919-360-2492
Email: bonitz at cleanenergy.org
Web: http://www.cleanenergy.org



------ Forwarded Message
From: Norman Smit <nsmit at biofuelscenter.org>
Organization: Biofuels Center of North Carolina

Media Release 
Embargo - none
Date - 16 April 2008
Media Inquiries - Norman Smit - 919-339-3509

$2.5 million Biofuels Center boost for new industry sector in North Carolina

The Biofuels Center of North Carolina is giving the new biofuels sector in
the state a $2.55 million jump start.  Seventy five grant and loan
applications totaling almost $13 million were received on March 17, 2008 in
response to the Center's request for proposals (RFP).  Biofuels Center
President John Ganzi says that the large number of applications show the
pent-up need for capacity building in the state to create this new industry
sector.  "North Carolina imports 5.6 billion gallons of liquid fuels
annually," he said.  "These proposals put North Carolina on the path to
reducing its dependency on foreign oil and liquid fuel imports".

Nine people from industry, non-profits, and state agencies reviewed the
applications in a competitive process and made recommendations for funding
to the Biofuels Center Board.  Fifteen applications totaling $2.55 million
dollars were approved by the Biofuels Center Board at a meeting yesterday -
15 April, 2008.  (See end for complete list.)

Biofuels Center Board Chairman Steven Burke said at the meeting that the
Biofuels Center Capacity Building Program of grants and loans was "an
important step towards fulfilling North Carolina's Strategic Plan for
Biofuels Leadership".  "Seldom has a state the opportunity to create an
entirely new industry sector, but sustained support will ensure North
Carolina reaches its goal of growing and producing 10% of its own liquid
fuels by 2017 - or about 600 million gallons," he said.

The RFP called for applications in the following areas:
. Innovation/Research:  Supporting North Carolina-based science,
development, and application of technology related to the biofuels value
chain.
. Agriculture:  Renewable crops or feedstocks to meet the production
needs of North Carolina's liquid fuels usage.
. Industrial Production:  New opportunities - both technologies and
installations - for the profitable production of biofuels throughout North
Carolina.
. Workforce Development: The development of a vibrant and productive
workforce to support all aspects of the biofuels industry statewide.

The applications approved by the board include building a biodiesel
production enhancement; converting renewable woody biomass to fuel; and, one
funding biofuels laboratory equipment for workforce training.  Another is to
prove the economic feasibility of renewable biomass.

Remona Callair, the Director of Finance and Administration at the Biofuels
Center who managed the grants process, said that prior to the RFP deadline,
the Center received hundreds of calls and emails about the program.  "We had
people driving to the Biofuels Center from all over the state to drop off
their applications," she said.

The Biofuels Center of North Carolina was funded by a $5 million
appropriation from the 2007 General Assembly to implement North Carolina's
Strategic Plan for Biofuels Leadership.  The Center celebrated its 100-day
anniversary at the beginning of April 2008.

Media Enquiries:
Contact:  
Norman Smit, Biofuels Center Director of Marketing & Communications
919-339-3509
nsmit at biofuelscenter.org


Background Information about the Biofuels Center:
The Biofuels Center is charged with charting North Carolina's path to liquid
fuels energy independence.  The Center is a nonprofit organization
headquartered on the North Carolina Biofuels Campus in Oxford, on NC
Department of Agriculture land.  The Center works with a wide range of
constituents, from academics and scientists, farmers and industry, to public
policy makers and consumers.  Its mission is to facilitate and support the
development of a sustainable biofuels industry in the state.  The goals of
the Biofuels Center are:
. By 2017, 10 % of liquid fuels sold in North Carolina will be grown
and produced in the state.
. Accelerate biofuels technology, science & research
. Develop appropriate agricultural feedstocks
. Build capacity along the value chain
. Attract capital to the biofuels sector
. Promote jobs and prosperity by growing the biofuels industry
. Educate North Carolina consumers about the benefits of biofuels

A copy of the 24-page Strategic Plan for Biofuels Leadership can be
downloaded from the Biofuels Center website - www.biofuelscenter.org

List of Award Winners 2007-2008 Fiscal Year:
List reflects amount requested, project title and organization requesting
funding. List is in no particular order.

     
. $250,000 ~ Building a Bio-Refinery ~ Piedmont Biofuels Industrial
LLC
. $197,033 ~ Development and Evaluation of reduced input planting,
harvest, storage system strategies for economic production of biofuels from
Industrial Sweetpotatoes ~ NCSU - SPARCS
. $250,000 ~ Blue Ridge Biofuels Biodiesel Production Expansion
Project ~ Blue Ridge Biofuels, LLC
. $195,000 ~ Biofuels Production Laboratory Equipment Funding ~
Central Carolina Community College
. $135,845 ~ Haywood County Biofuels PET Project ~Haywood Community
College Foundation
. $200,000 ~ The Abell Foundation Commercialization-Focused Woody
Biomass Gasification Project utilizing NC Pilot Plant ~ The Abell
Foundation, Inc.
. $27,314 ~ Renewable Fuels Program ~ Washington High School
. $22,000 ~ NC Biofuels LLC Site Development ~ North Carolina's
Northeast Economic Development Foundation, Inc.
. $200,000 ~ High-Value Transportation Fuels from NC Feedstocks ~ NCSU
. $200,000 ~ Expansion of the Carbon to Liquids Development Center in
Durham, NC - Enabling Development & Commercialization of New Biomass to
Fuels Technologies for NC ~ Southern Research Institute
. $138,688 ~ Developing  Dekkera bruxellensis for bio-ethanol
production ~ NCSU
. $198,178 ~ Producing Ethanol from Biomass by Extracting Value Prior
to Combustion ~ NCSU
. $187,700 ~ Bioenergy Plantations: technical economic study to
establish feasibility of affordable, abundant, renewable biomass selected
for efficient conversion to transportation fuels and power for NC ~ NCSU
. $148,800  ~ STARworks Biofuels ~ Yadkin-PeeDee Lakes Project, Inc.
dba Central Park NC
. $199,733 ~ Growing Duckweed on Swine Wastewater for Ethanol
Production ~ NCSU

Also available online at http://www.biofuelscenter.org/page4.html