The state of Florida has announced the award of $25 million in grant aid to 12 biofuels projects in the state. The grants are part of Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson’s “Farm to Fuel” initiative, a program designed to get Florida’s agriculture industry to produce 25 percent of the state’s energy needs by the year 2025 in an effort to reduce Florida’s dependency on foreign oil and to keep land in agriculture.

“We believe that awards such as these are critical in triggering the development of a renewable energy industry in Florida,” Bronson said.  “With the backing of and an investment from the state, we’re hopeful that these projects will yield positive results and serve as a catalyst for major commercial investment in this industry.”

The entities chosen for the grants are investing nearly $157 million of their own resources into their renewable energy projects.

The proposals were evaluated on a number of factors, including their use of Florida-grown crops or biomass to produce energy, their potential to expand agribusiness in the state, preliminary market research and the efficiency of their use of energy and other material resources.

Last spring, the Florida Legislature authorized and Governor Charlie Crist signed into law the “Farm to Fuel” Grants Program to provide matching grants for demonstration, commercialization, and research and development projects involving bio-energy.  As part of the program, $25 million was appropriated to stimulate investment in projects that produce renewable energy from Florida-grown crops or biomass.

The winners of this year’s “Farm to Fuel” grants are:

    * Gulf Coast Energy of Walton LLC
Awarded $7 million, in a commercial project grant for the construction and operation of both an ethanol and biodiesel plant in a $62 million project in Mossy Head, Florida.

    * U.S. Envirofuels LLC
Awarded $7 million, in a commercial project grant for the construction of a $47 million ethanol production plant in Highlands County.

    * Liberty Industries
Awarded $4 million, in a commercial project grant for the construction and operation of a $38 million Liberty County facility that will produce ethanol and electricity using primarily forest waste products.

    * Agri-Source Fuels
Awarded $4 million, in a commercial project grant for the construction of a $21 million biodiesel plant in Pensacola.

    * University of Florida
Awarded $500,000, in a research and development grant to develop a catalytic chemical reactor system to convert woody biomass to biodiesel.

    * Southeast Biofuels LLC
Awarded $500,000, in a demonstration grant to build a nearly $6 million pilot plant in Auburndale to produce ethanol from citrus peels.

    * Sigarca Inc.
Awarded $499,500, in a research and demonstration project involving the construction of a 3,000-square-foot bioenergy plant on the grounds of the Southeastern Livestock Pavilion in Ocala to process horse waste into renewable energy.

    * University of Central Florida
Awarded $498,000, in a research and development grant to demonstrate the viability and cost effectiveness of technology developed at the university to convert farm and animal waste into renewable energy.

    * Florida Institute of Technology
Awarded $415,520, in a research and development grant to cultivate and research various strains of Microalgae capable of producing biodiesel.

    * Applied Research Associates Inc. of Panama City
Awarded $203,130, in a research and development grant involving converting cellulosic materials such as sugarcane byproducts to fermentable sugars for a more cost-effective way of producing ethanol.

    * Applied Research Associates Inc. of Panama City
Awarded $182,832, in a research and development grant to demonstrate a new technology in converting crop oils into biodiesel.

    * Neptune Industries Inc.
Awarded $158,270, in a research and development project that would create a pilot-scale floating algae production system in quarry lakes in South Florida to produce algae capable of being converted into biodiesel.