A federal biofuels incentive fund has followed through on its contribution agreement to support a Saskatchewan plant producing wheat- and corn-based ethanol.
NorAmera Bio Energy, headquartered at Moose Jaw with its production plant at Weyburn, will get up to $13.72 million over seven years through the government’s ecoEnergy for Biofuels program, which signed a contribution agreement with NorAmera last November.
The incentive fund, which the government said is intended to “help stabilize the Canadian renewable fuel industry,” has a budget of $1.5 billion over nine years to fund biofuel production through to the end of March 2017.
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The program has so far signed contribution agreements with 23 companies, which will be entitled to incentives for up to seven consecutive years.
Souris-Moose Mountain MP Ed Komarnicki announced the funding for NorAmera in Weyburn on Monday.
NorAmera also markets the syrup, dried distillers grain and wet distillers grain from its production process. The Weyburn plant’s nameplate production capacity is 24.5 million litres of ethanol per year.
“The support from the federal government is essential for the long-term development of the industry,” NorAmera CEO Brad Hill said in the federal government’s release Monday.
“We are pleased with the level of support and the willingness of the government to address the industry concerns especially in the current economic climate.”
