INTERVIEW-More incentives needed for cellulosic ethanol

Reuters UK
Mon Jun 16, 2008 11:20pm BST

By Carey Gillam
SAN DIEGO, June 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. government needs to ante up more in loan guarantees to convince lenders to back commercial development of cellulosic ethanol, Verenium Corp Chairman Carlos Riva said on Monday.

Riva said the 5-year U.S. farm law enacted last month was a good start in boosting cellulosic technology, which aims to produce large quantities of ethanol for fuel from switchgrass, crop residues and other plant cellulose wastes. Ethanol in the United States is now mostly made from corn.

The new farm law provides $320 million in loan guarantees for the next two years for construction of cellulosic refineries. But an additional $150 million may be allocated if lawmakers are able to find the funding.

But Riva said a moderately sized plant costs more than $150 million, so more guarantees are needed if the fledgling industry is to meet a renewable fuel standard goal of producing 16 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol by 2022.

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