Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Range Fuels Gets $80M Loan Guarantee

Broomfield, Colorado-based Range Fuels reported Monday that the firm has scored $80M in a loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, for construction of the firm's commercial cellulosic ethanol plant in Georgia. The firm said the conditional commitment comes from the Section 9003 Biorefinery Assistance Program, an effort to provide loan guarantees for commercial-scale biorefineries and grants to demonstration-scale biorefineries for non-corn-based biofuels. Range Fuels said it is under construction on its plant, located in Soperton, Georgia, which it expects to begin production in 2010. Range Fuels said the loan guarantee includes the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Rural Development, AgSouth Farm Credit, and Range Fuels. AgSouth Farm Credit will be the lead lending agency. Range Fuels is venture backed by Passport Capital, BlueMountain, Khosla Ventures, Leaf Clean Energy Company, and Pacific Capital Group.