Biochemicals, biofuels, biomass receive incentive in Minnesota

A pending Minnesota Bill, H.F. 2456, which was first introduced in the Minnesota House of Representatives on the 27th of February, aims to initiate the commercial production of advances biofuels, biomass and renewable chemicals by providing incentives such as a capital equipment loan scheme. A companion Bill to the above, S.F. 2101, was also introduced in the House of Representatives in the state.

The Bill states that in order to be eligible for the program, renewable chemical facilities must produce a yield of 30m lb/year, biomass projects to must produce 7,500 mmbtu/year and advanced biofuel facilities must have a yield of 950,000 mmbtu/year.

Another eligibility criterion for the incentive program is that the renewable chemicals facility must use 80% of the raw materials from the state of Minnesota and this raw material must come from the forestry or agricultural sources or from the Municipal solid waste’s organic content. The facility also needs to be located within the state and should start operating after the 1st of January 2015. Eligible companies include some existing companies that are expanding in order to fulfill the criterion of production and some new and upcoming companies.

Payments for all the qualifying facilities will be made by the 30th of June, 2020. If a facility becomes ineligible within a period of 5 years then the payments must be refunded.  The source of this article is  http://greenchemicalsblog.com/2014/03/14/minnesota-bill-for-renewable-chems-incentives/