DES MOINES, Iowa – The USDA is making a $250,000 investment to help Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy (SIRE), LLC, purchase and install equipment to improve energy efficiency, and lower energy costs at its ethanol production facility.

Funding for the Council Bluffs, Iowa-based company’s plant upgrades was made through the USDA Rural Energy for America (REAP) program, which assists U.S. farmers, ranchers, and rural small businesses in developing renewable energy systems, and making energy-efficiency improvements to their operations. 

“By investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency through the REAP program, USDA Rural Development helps boost the bottom lines of rural small businesses, and agricultural producers,” Grant Menke, USDA Rural Development state director for Iowa, told the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network.

According to company officials, SIRE is a state-of-the-art dry-mill grain processing facility that produces over 130 million gallons of fuel-grade ethanol per year.  

In addition, SIRE produces over 365,000 tons of dried distillers grains annually, along with approximately 90,000 pounds per day of distillers corn oil, the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network reported.

SIRE will use a $250,000 grant for the purchase and installation of a Dryer Exhaust Energy Recovery (DEER) system to capture exhaust energy from the distillers grains dryers, and use this energy to produce steam used in front-end operations. 

Moreover, SIRE will realize $6,650,000 per year in savings, and will replace 111,850,578 kWh per year, saving enough electricity to power 11,172 homes.

On Oct. 8, the USDA announced the recipients of $22 million worth of Higher Blend Infrastructure Incentive Program grants to upgrade fueling infrastructure, and make it possible for fuel retailers across 14 states to offer higher blends of biofuels. This is the first round of awards out of the $100 million program.

The USDA is funding projects in California, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Utah, and Wisconsin.

USDA Sonny Perdue announced the agency has invested over $9.3 million in grants to increase American ethanol and biodiesel sales. 

These funds were made available through the Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program (HBIIP) to 15 Iowa recipients.

“Investments made through the Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program are helping rural communities build stronger economies and will give consumers more choices when they fill up at the pump,” Perdue said. 

“President Trump has expanded ethanol use by unleashing year-round E15, and the result is more demand for American farmers, and more affordable fuel for American consumers,” he added.

Menke said HBIIP will increase domestic demand for cleaner burning, American-made biofuels at a critical time.