Congresswoman Cindy Axne and USDA Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development Xochitl Torres Small visited the Elite Octane dry-mill ethanol plant in Atlantic, Iowa this week to announce a $250,000 energy efficiency grant funded by the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP).

The REAP grant will be used by Elite Octane to install a Dryer Exhaust Energy Recovery (DEER) system, which will capture and reuse the energy from the plant’s dryer – allowing the plant to recapture and use 89 million kilowatt hours per year, enough electricity to power close to 6,000 homes. The DEER system is projected by USDA to save the Atlantic plant more than $1.2 million a year in energy costs.

The Build Back Better Act, which Rep. Axne has been helping craft in the House, allocates an additional $2 billion in funding for REAP grants.

The updated draft text of the Build Back Better Act also includes $1 billion in funding for USDA to provide grants over the next 10 years to expand biofuel pump infrastructure, upgrade existing tanks and pumps, and increase usage of higher blends of ethanol and biodiesel.