23rd February 2007

A Fort Lauderdale company with plans to refurbish and operate a fuel-ethanol production plant in Polk County was one of eight bioenergy-related projects given Florida technology grants.

Losonoco Inc. was awarded $2.5 million Thursday as part of the $15 million in 2006 Renewable Energy Technologies Grants Program.

The funding was awarded to eight companies with at least $5 million to support bioenergy projects and $10 million for projects that generate or use other renewable-energy resources, including hydrogen, biomass and solar energy.

"This is a major step forward in Florida's effort to establish a meaningful renewable-energy industry," Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson said.

The grants were for "renewable energy technologies," and Losonoco's plans are to use the latest technology to refurbish and reopen a Mulberry plant as a 12 million-gallon-per-year production facility, virtually doubling its original capacity.

Ethanol is a renewable fuel source that can be made from corn, among other things. Bronson is pushing more of Florida's farmers to get in on the ethanol bandwagon as not only a way to make more money from their land, but to help wean America off foreign oil.

"Get off this fossil-fuel kick we've been on," he said in an interview Wednesday.

Others receiving grants:

Citrus Energy LLC, $2.5 million, to build a 4 million-gallon-per-year ethanol bio-refinery in Clewiston using citrus waste.

Alico Inc., $2.5 million, to co-produce ethanol and electricity.

University of Florida, $2.5 million, to construct a small-scale plant running on a variety of biofuels.

Florida Solar Energy Research and Education Foundation, $1.9 million, to strengthen and stabilize the solar-energy industry in Florida.

Kore Consulting Group, $1.8 million, to study and develop strategies for renewable and sustainable energy technologies.

Florida International University, $990,532, to determine the feasibility of sugarcane waste as a feedstock for a large-scale ethanol industry.

Florida Biomass Energy Consortium, $320,623, to build and operate an integrated biomass gasification system to replace natural-gas use.

The eight grant recipients were selected from among 183 proposals seeking nearly $215 million for renewable-energy projects.