Pacific Ethanol to reopen Madera ethanol plant

Pacific Ethanol is reopening its shuttered California plant as demand for ethanol is increasing.

Based on strengthening demand for biofuel, Pacific Ethanol intends to reopen a plant in Madera, California, after it stopped production for five years.

The plant has an annual ethanol production capacity of 40 million gallons and is expected to begin production this spring.

A number of the company's plants, including Stockton, California; Burley, Idaho; and Boardman, Oregon have been running at full capacity, following a period of reduced production during 2012, after corn prices rose amid a drought.

Paul Koehler, the company's vice president, says: We're currently in the process of making sure everything is fit and ready to go.'

Koehler said ethanol production spiked significantly when the federal government implemented a Renewable Fuel Standard in 2005, which it then expanded in 2007.

'The whole industry went from two to three billion gallons per year a decade ago to 14.5 billion gallons today in the US,' Koehler adds.