The Ontario government has announced capital grants and operating subsidies worth tens of millions of dollars to help promote the ethanol industry.
The money will benefit four companies and co-operatives that plan to add capacity to produce 455 million litres of ethanol annually.
On June 15, agriculture minister Leona Dombrowsky said the Liberal government will give more than $32 million in capital grants to projects in Aylmer, Cornwall and Hensall, Ont. In addition, up to $60 million will be provided annually to five plants as operating grants to help the plants “manage fluctuating market conditions.”
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The capital grants are available this year to help construction and the operating grant program kicks in next year as part of a 12 year, $520 million Ontario Ethanol Growth Fund.
The government says it will lead to private sector investments of $500 million in rural Ontario and create as many as 400 rural jobs.
The 150 million litre plant in Aylmer will be built by the Integrated Grain Processors’ Co-operative and its chair Tom Cox praised the help.
“The Ontario Ethanol Growth Fund is exactly what our industry needs,” he said. “It provides the capital that will help us get the shovel in the ground.”
The southwestern Ontario plant will use local corn as the feedstock.
The money also will be used to help farmer-controlled co-op Seaway Grain Processors Inc. in the eastern Ontario city of Cornwall to build a 65 million litre plant beside the St. Lawrence River.
The government will require that five percent of all gasoline sold in the province contain at least an average five percent ethanol by next year, three years before the federal government is proposing to make it a national minimum standard.
