Edeniq is expanding in the Visalia Industrial Park expecting to turn on its new pilot cellulosic ethanol plant in March, with plans to double employment this year, said Scott Janssen, the company's Chief Financial Officer.
Some 60 employees work at their new Shirk Ave facility now.
Edeniq received a $25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to retrofit a pilot processing plant that can make fuel from various biomass feedstocks including wood, switchgrass and corn stover - the corn stalk.
They also have significant private funding from a number of well-known clean-tech venture capital groups.
The pilot plant that broke ground last May has the capacity to make 50,000 gallons of biofuel a year based on which feedstock is used.
The plant will process two tons of biomass a day producing 140 gallons a day of fuel in expectation of perfecting the formula of making the biofuel of tomorrow.
"This is pretty high science. We see it as a 6- to 10-year process" to make biofuel mostly from waste products that can be cost competitive, the goal of scores of high-tech companies as well as the U.S. government in recent years, Janssen said.
Neighborhood solar farms could soon become common in the small bergs of rural Tulare County soon.†
A Spanish company, Immodo Solar, has submitted five solar farm projects to Tulare County for permitting -†with between 3 and 10 megawatts of power - all on non-Williamson Act land.
"Governor Brown has mandated we build 12 gigawatts (1 billion watts, Diablo Canyon nuclear plant is 23 million watts) of distributed energy in coming years," says Immodo VP Don Watson.
"We have chosen Tulare County because of both need and ease of working with the county," he said.
The five projects include plans for a 5 megawatt facility on 18 acres near Kingsburg, an 8 megawatt 30-acre project near Seville, a 10 megawatt 40-acre project at the old Alta Airport site between Orosi and Sultana, and two solar farms near East Orosi totaling 7 megawatts.
Watson says there are projects in both the PG&E service area and SCE's and notes both big utilities are easy to work with.
County planner Mike Washam says the Immodo projects "have a good chance of getting approved." Immodo is also working with the City of Lemoore on a 35-acre project in that town and near Hanford on another. Watson says in most cases the company is buying the land for their projects as opposed to leasing it.
The smaller scale "distributed energy" solar projects are attractive in part because the public does not have to fund big power line extensions to carry the electricity long distances.
Tulare County's first private utility-scale project construction is under way near Alpaugh being built by Samsung. Two large projects totaling 70 megawatts on around 550 acres nearby will also soon be applying for building permits owned by a Chinese solar company GCL Solar, with offices in San Francisco, says county planner Washam.
"Add it all up and the county has approved 230 megawatts of solar power on 1,796 acres with 10 projects pending."
Working with the county and developers is Proteus, led by Hector Uriarte Jr., their green jobs coordinator, who has set up a successful entry-level training program for workers who are already installing what will be millions of solar panels around the Central Valley in coming years. Last year they projected some 12 thousand†jobs related to construction of solar facilities.
Chicago Title will open a small branch on Bridge Street in downtown Visalia in March, says local manager Ted Walters. The office will be in the new Mangano building.
More than five years in the planning, southern Tulare County residents will finally see a Super Wal-Mart in Delano by next year.
Developers of the shopping center in Delano, YK America, are hosting a groundbreaking Feb. 15 for the new 190,000-square-foot Wal-Mart-anchored center that is expected to add up to at least 362,000 square feet including other tenants. The project was delayed by a lawsuit and appeal but will now go forward this year, says Bill Lu of YK America. Lu leads a Chinese investment group financing the the center.
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