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MassDevelopment In The News
BioEnergy Wins $1 Million for Ethanol R&D Site
April 20, 2007: Mass High Tech, by Efrain Viscarolasaga
Norwell's BioEnergy LLC, a developer of ethanol production technologies, has been approved for a $1 million loan from the state's Emerging Technology Fund, to help build a new research and development facility in the Bay State.
The deal helped Massachusetts in its bid to keep the company's expansion local, officials said. The state of Pennsylvania also offered the company an incentive package, said Corinne Young, director of government affairs for BioEnergy, though she would not provide details on what Pennsylvania's pitch included.
The company has not yet identified a site for the new lab, but executives say the company is looking at facilities in South Boston and Mansfield, as well as other areas around metro Boston.
The new site is expected to be about 20,000 square feet. The majority would be used for research and development, but plans also include office and laboratory space, said executives.
BioEnergy executives say they hope to have the lab running by the end of the year. When operational, the expansion is expected to generate 20 to 30 new jobs, with approximately six of those positions being added during the first year and 19 or more added during the second year, according to documents from MassDevelopment, which manages the Emerging Technology Fund.
"(BioEnergy CEO Steve Gatto) is very happy to be doing this in Massachusetts," said Young. "We want to help build a biotech/alterative-energy cluster in New England, and this loan will help."
BioEnergy is a biotechnology company that is developing enzyme-based technologies capable of efficiently breaking down organic material to produce ethanol. The company has two facilities under development in Louisiana and Pennsylvania.
© Copyright 2007 Mass High Tech.
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