The Indiana Office of Energy Development (OED) and the Indiana Corn Marketing Council (ICMC) today announced that publicly-accessible fuel retail stations in Indiana can begin applying for a share of $1,338,400 through the Hoosier Homegrown Fuels (HHF) Blender Pump Program.
The grant program is a partnership between OED, ICMC, the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, Greater Indiana Clean Cities and South Shore Clean Cities. OED received $895,000 from the US Department of Agriculture’s Farm Services Agency to put toward the HHF program, and ICMC will contribute $443,400 as well.
The goal of this program is to expand the availability of higher ethanol blends in areas of Indiana where blends of E15 – E85 are limited or not available. E15 and E85 are abbreviations indicating the percentage of ethanol blended in the fuel. The project is anticipated to deploy 110 blender pumps capable of dispensing these higher ethanol blends. A minimum of two and a maximum of five dispensers, per pump location, are eligible for funds.
“We’re excited to open applications for this Hoosier Homegrown Fuels grant program,” said Tristan Vance, OED Director. “Projects such as these can reduce costs, improve fueling options and utilize domestic energy resources.”
“ICMC saw an opportunity through the Biofuel Infrastructure Partnership to leverage our checkoff funds and partner with other organizations to expand ethanol’s availability to the roughly 450,000 Hoosiers throughout the state who drive Flex Fuel Vehicles,” said Dennis Maple, ICMC president and farmer from Greentown, IN. “Ethanol is an important market for Indiana corn farmers and we are excited to help grow the ethanol infrastructure throughout the state with this grant program.”
Applications for the HHF grant program can be mailed to both grants@oed.in.gov and kparrent@indianacorn.org beginning today, December 1, 2015, through January 8, 2016. Program guidelines are available at www.in.gov/oed/2736.htm.
OED and ICMC intend for winning recipients to track their ethanol volume sales and marketing efforts through 2017 and their ethanol sales through 2022. This data will help OED and ICMC measure the impact of the new ethanol fueling infrastructure.
Those selected to receive a 2015 HHF grant will be notified by letter and email in January 2016.