$330 Million Awareded to Westar Trade Resources clients by the USDA

Jan. 27, 2011 - PRLog -- Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Thursday, 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 fuels. 

The Biorefinery Assistance Program (Section 9003 of the 2008 Farm Bill) provides loan guarantees to entrepreneurs eager to take advantage of the growing opportunities in renewable energy provided by advanced biofuels. The announcement included three projects, two of which were Westar Trade Resources clients totaling $330 million in guarantee loans.

“We are excited and thrilled by the awards and the support from Secretary Vilsack and USDA in partnering with these great companies, and their commitment to build an advanced biofuels industry in the USA.  I congratulate both of these exceptional companies for the strength of their business models, financing strategies, and management teams which also contributed to their success,” opined Cindy Thyfault, CEO, Westar Trade Resources.

Coskata and Enerkem also join a previous Westar client, Sapphire Energy, which was awarded a 9003 loan guarantee of $54.5 million in 2009.  The next round of USDA 9003 Biorefinery Loan Guarantee applications will be open shortly, and Westar is already beginning to work with clients in preparing applications for this final application period, which was authorized in the 2007 Farm Bill.  If your company is interested in applying for this loan guarantee program, please contact Cindy Thyfault, CEO, at 214-320-0900 or cindy@westartrade.com to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation. Please visit http://www.westartrade.com for more information.

In rural western Alabama, Coskata, Inc. has received a letter of intent for a $250 million loan guarantee to construct and operate a cellulosic ethanol biorefinery facility. This 55-million gallon-per-year renewable biofuel project will use woody biomass to produce ethanol. In Pontotoc, Miss., Enerkem Corporation has been selected to receive an $80 million loan guarantee to build and operate a biorefinery that will be capable of producing 10 million gallons of advanced biofuel (cellulosic ethanol) per year by refining some 100,000 metric tons of dried and post-sorted municipal solid waste through a thermo-chemical cellulosic process.

Coskata Inc., a developer oftechnology for the production of renewable fuels and chemicals, was notified by the USDA of their intent to provide a $250 million loan guarantee in support of a commercial biorefinery that will utilize Coskata's technology. The guarantee will be the largest ever awarded for a biofuel facility, and will allow the Coskata supported facility to move forward with financing the construction of a 55 million gallon per year cellulosic ethanol facility in Greene County, Alabama.

"Today's announcement by the USDA sends a clear message about the Administration's commitment to advanced biofuels, and provides further validation that Coskata's technology is ready for commercial scale," said William Roe, CEO of Coskata, Inc. "This is a critical first step that will facilitate Coskata working with the USDA, and proceeding to raise the balance of the capital needed for the project."

The facility is currently the largest planned cellulosic ethanol facility in the country and is expected to bring approximately 300 construction jobs and 700 direct and indirect jobs to Boligee, Greene County, Alabama.

Coskata has been demonstrating the commercial viability of its process for over a year at the company's integrated biorefinery, located in Madison, Pennsylvania. The process leverages proprietary microorganisms and efficient bioreactor designs in a unique three-step conversion process that can produce fuel-grade ethanol from virtually any carbon-based feedstock, including wood and wood waste, agricultural waste, energy crops, and municipal solid waste. The process produces approximately 100 gallons of fuel from each dry ton of biomass.

Enerkem Corporation 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 will transform Northeast Mississippi's municipal solid waste into ethanol.

The loan guarantee is part of the USDA 9003 Biorefinery Assistance Program and follows an award of up to US$50 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, announced in late 2009 for this facility. This combined commitment from U.S. government agencies continues to bolster private sector investment and confirms that Enerkem's waste-to-biofuel technology is a frontrunner in the development of renewable and alternative energy.

Enerkem's biorefinery operation in Mississippi - a 300 ton-per-day facility located on the Three Rivers landfill site - will initially produce 10 million gallons / 36 million litres of ethanol annually from sorted municipal solid waste and will reduce the pressure to landfill. The project is expected to create more than 70 permanent jobs. For this project, Enerkem and the state of Mississippi were recognized as the Public private partnership of the Year, as part of Biofuels Digest's 2010 Awards, a widely-read industry publication.

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Westar Trade Resources is an international financial consulting company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, known for the development, marketing, and funding of start-up & expansion of new businesses, both domestically and internationally.

The depth of projects has extended to all forms of renewable energy and bioproducts, food and fiber manufacturing, green building products, import-export manufacturing, commodity trading, real estate, and other sustainable, transformational technologies.