HUGOTON, Kan. (AP) -- The federal government will provide funds for a project to convert switchgrass to biofuels in southwest Kansas.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday that it will help fund the project on 20,000 acres in southwest Kansas and a small part of Oklahoma.
The switchgrass will be grown around a biomass conversion plant in Hugoton. Abengoa Biofuels says the plant will be operating by 2013. The company said in a news release that the plant will convert 315,000 dry tons of crops into 25 million gallons of ethanol, generating 25 megawatts of electricity.
The project was one of four announced Tuesday that will be supported by the USDA's Biomass Crop Assistance Program.
Under the program, the USDA covers 75 percent of the start-up costs and five years of maintenance payments.
