A California biodiesel maker receives a $1.8 million state grant to fund some new technologies at an existing refinery at a military base.

A press release from its parent corporation, Biodico, says Biodiesel Industries of Ventura, LLC got the grant to use at Biodico’s 10 million gallon per year facility at the National Environmental Technology Demonstration Site, at Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme, California:

“We create subsidiaries for each of our facilities so that local investors can become involved in what we are doing in their communities,” explained JJ Rothgery, chairman of the Biodico’s board of directors, “and so that national investors with interests in environmentally sustainable energy can become involved in our new projects. Currently we are working on two projects in California, one at Naval Base Ventura, and the other at Red Rock Ranch in California’s Central Valley. Both projects will benefit from the technology developed under the new Energy Commission grant.” Each 10 million gallon per year facility costs approximately $12.5 million from inception to completion.

The research from this money will be focused on using new non-food crops for biodiesel and will be done in cooperation with Dr. Stephen Kaffka, Director of the California Biomass Collaborative at the University of California Davis, and John Diener, president of Red Rock Ranch. In addition, the Biodico production facility will be able to produce all its own heat and power, and Biodico will use it as a blueprint for making its other facilities self-sustaining.