New York State to Pursue Cellulosic Ethanol and Energy Crops

New York State to Pursue Cellulosic Ethanol and Energy Crops

The governor also announced that the state is supporting the development of dedicated crops for the biomass energy industry. The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets awarded grants of $22,385 for Dutchess County Cornell Cooperative Extension and Cornell University to try growing a 15-acre crop of switchgrass, and $60,000 for the State University of New York - College of Environmental Science and Forestry to develop its first commercial willow plantation. The willow plantation will be located near a wood-burning power plant in Lyonsdale, about 40 miles north of Utica, and managed in cooperation with the power plant. Lyonsdale Biomass is a 19-megawatt power plant that also supplies steam to a nearby paper plant, and is partly owned by Catalyst Renewables. The willow plantation could provide fuel for the power plant or for a cellulosic ethanol facility. In addition, the state awarded a grant of $60,000 to Northern Biodiesel in Ontario, about 10 miles east of Rochester, to develop a rapeseed market for the biodiesel industry. See the Department of Agriculture and Markets press release and the Catalyst Renewables Web site .