On October 8, 2020, Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has made $22 million available in grants to increase sales of ethanol and biodiesel. The funds are coming out of the $100 million in grants available through the Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program (HBIIP) and have been disbursed to 14 states. USDA predicts that the investments will increase ethanol demand by approximately 150 million gallons annually.

HBIIP aims to assist biodiesel distribution facilities and transportation fueling facilities with the conversion to higher ethanol and biodiesel blends by sharing costs related to installing fuel pumps and related equipment and infrastructure. Eligible grant applicants are vehicle fueling facilities, including, but not limited to:

• Local fueling stations and locations;

• Vehicle fueling facilities;

• Hypermarket fueling stations;

• Convenience stores;

• Fuel terminal operations;

• Fleet facilities;

• Midstream partners; and

• Distribution facilities.

Higher fuel blends mean fuels that contain ethanol over ten percent by volume and/or fuels containing biodiesel blends higher than five percent by volume. More information on USDA’s HBIIP can be found here.

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