News Release

Funding Setback for Biofuels Project
7/2/2010

The U.S. Department of Energy Industrial Technologies Program has selected six projects for financial awards totaling $21 million under the "Combined Heat and Power Systems Technology Development and Demonstration" solicitation, leaving Vail’s proposal currently unfunded. The selected projects utilize primarily natural gas as a fuel source, rather than woody biomass from beetle killed trees as in the Vail proposal. The grant awards were announced June 30 on the U.S. Department of Energy website. The department had announced availability of $140 million for such grants.

While the biofuels facility proposed to be built in Vail by Hayden, Cary & King, Co. was not awarded the $26 million grant requested in this most recent round of funding, Vail Town Manager Stan Zemler says the town will review its options before deciding what comes next. As proposed, a biomass plant in Vail would generate between 26-28 megawatts of heat and 6-8 megawatts of electricity annually to offset snowmelt heat and electricity requirements within the town. The start-up cost is estimated at $46 million.

Zemler says the U.S. Forest Service is currently working on a biomass supply study to determine whether there is enough supply of beetle kill wood to sustain a plant of this size in Vail into the future. Results are due in September.

Andrew King, who submitted the grant request on behalf of Hayden, Cary, & King, says he’ll continue to work with private investors, the U.S. Forest Service, Town of Vail, Holy Cross Energy and other stakeholders to maintain the project’s momentum and identify other funding sources in the form of other federal grants or U.S. Department of Agriculture guaranteed loans.