IARN — Iowa Third District Congresswoman Cindy Axne and USDA Rural Development Under Secretary Xochitl Torres Small have announced new energy investments in Iowa biofuels from the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP).
Axne and Torres Small were joined by stakeholders from Iowa’s renewable fuels community at an event at the Elite Octane dry-mill ethanol plant in Atlantic late Tuesday morning to announce a $250,000 energy efficiency grant funded by REAP.
Axne says the REAP grant will be used by Elite Octane to install a Dryer Exhaust Energy Recovery (DEER) system, which will capture and reuse the energy from the plant’s dryer – allowing the plant to recapture and use 89 million kilowatt hours per year, enough electricity to power close to 6,000 homes. The DEER system is projected by USDA to save the Atlantic plant more than $1.2 million a year in energy costs.
“What this is going to do is help them be able to produce more opportunity for Iowa by reducing their costs and increasing their output,” said Axne. “I am here with the Under Secretary to announce multiple grants for Iowa, not just this one, and I’m pleased to be able to do this for our rural communities.”
Torres Small says the $250,000 grant for Elite Octane is part of a much larger announcement from USDA Rural Development.
“We’re announcing today $1.8 million going to Iowa with 92 businesses to help make their work more efficient,” said Torres Small. “In Iowa, that means making biofuels production more efficient and being able to leverage those funds for the growth to reinvest in the business.”
Axne believes the REAP investments, along with aid in the Build Back Better Act, will help bring certainty to Iowa’s biofuel industry.
“In addition to what I will be moving forward with Build Back Better – which of course is infrastructure build out and a biodiesel tax credit extension – grants like these REAP awards continue to be the backbone to help businesses like Elite Octane be even more successful than they are,” said Axne.
Torres Small explains that small businesses in rural communities often operate on a slim margin.
“That’s why the REAP grants we’re announcing today are so crucial because it creates those efficiencies that expand those margins,” said Torres Small. “Here, I’m eager to learn from the producers on the ground, the small business owners and the farmers who are working together to create new markets and expand while investing in renewable energy.”
Attendees at the event included Atlantic Mayor Dave Jones, Acting State Director of USDA Rural Development Iowa Darin Leach, and representatives from the Iowa Corn Growers Association, Cass/Atlantic Development Corporation, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, Iowa Farmers Union, Iowa Soybean Association, and Iowa Rural Development Council.
Story courtesy of the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network.
Left to right: USDA Rural Development Under Secretary Xochitl Torres Small and Iowa Third District Congresswoman Cindy Axne (Photo by Brent Barnett)
