Clean Energy Capital To Build California Sugarcane Ethanol Plant

The first major sugarcane ethanol refinery in the continental United States will be built in the Imperial Valley of California, one of the best locations for growing sugarcane in the world. The project will cost $575 million and produce 66 million gallons of ethanol, enough electricity to meet the needs of 35,000 homes, and enough biomethane to heat 10,000 homes per year. Sweet sorghum, which has similar characteristics to sugarcane, will also be used.

Clean Energy Capital LLC, the largest U.S. private equity firm specializing solely in investments in ethanol, has been engaged to fully develop the project.

Scott Brittenham, CEO of Clean Energy Capital, stated, “There will be strong demand for ethanol from the refinery because the ethanol produced will meet stringent low carbon fuel mandates imposed anywhere in the U.S.”

The project’s next-generation business model is unique because the prices are locked in with long-term contracts for the sale of the ethanol to a major international oil company and the purchase of the sugarcane from local farmers. This will provide greater stability in profit margins, which ethanol refineries desire.

States like Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas, where sugarcane can be grown, are prime locations for building sugarcane ethanol refineries, which would create thousands of new jobs.

Source : Press Release