Biorefinery Assistance Program – Eligibility

Eligibility for the Biorefinery Assistance Program is broken into three parts; lenders, borrowers, and projects. All three areas must be met to be considered eligible for the program.

Who is an Eligible Lender?

Most lenders are eligible, including any Federal or State chartered bank, Farm Credit Bank, other Farm Credit System institution with direct lending authority, and a Bank for Cooperatives.

Who is an Eligible Borrower?

The borrower must be one of the following:

• Individual
• Entity
• Indian tribe
• Unit of State or local government
• Corporation
• Farm cooperative
• Farmer cooperative organization
• Association of agricultural producers
• National Laboratory
• Institution of higher education
• Rural electric cooperative
• Public power entity
• Consortium of any of the above entities

What is an Eligible Project?

The project must be located in the United States, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands of the United States, Guam, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Republic of Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, or Republic of the Marshall Islands.  The project must meet the following criteria:

• The project must be for the development and construction of commercial-scale biorefineries using eligible technology or retrofitting of existing facilities with eligible technology.
• The project must use an eligible feedstock for the production of advanced biofuels and biobased products.  Examples of eligible feedstocks include, but are not limited to, renewable biomass, biosolids, treated sewage sludge, and byproducts of the pulp and paper industry.
• The majority of the biorefinery production must be an advanced biofuel.  A project that creates an advanced biofuel that is converted to another form of energy for sale will still be considered an advanced biofuel.
• The project must provide funds of not less than 20 percent of eligible project costs.
• Refinancing, under certain circumstances, may be eligible.

All projects require an independent feasibility study and technical assessment as part of the application.

For additional program information, please refer to 7 CFR 4279, Subpart C.