The company plans to build a new $10m anaerobic digester, which will use dairy farm manure to produce 266 MMBtu of biogas per day.
The gas produced at the facility will be used to power an adjacent ethanol plant, the Calgren Renewable Fuels Biorefinery having capacity to produce 58 million gallons per year (MMgy).
According to project engineer Craig Hartman, construction of the new facility has already begun and is expected to complete in September 2015, following which it is expected to reduce Calgren’s natural gas consumption by 402MMBTU per day.
CEC has also granted approval for a $4.9m grant to Encinitas, Community Fuels to expand biodiesel production capacity at its Port of Stockton facility from the current 10MMgy to about 15MMgy.
Additionally, the commission has approved a $1.6m funding for conversion of older United Parcel Service and US Postal Service medium-duty gas or diesel walk-in vans into hybrid vehicles by swapping their engines with electric power train.
