Pacific Ethanol has announced the start-up of its Stockton, California facility. The Company will hold a grand opening ceremony for its second California ethanol plant on October 10.

“The start-up of our Stockton plant marks the achievement of our goal of 220 million gallons of annual production capacity and dramatically increases the availability of renewable fuels produced in the state of California. As the largest fuel market in the United States, California will benefit from locally produced ethanol and its feed co-products,” said Neil Koehler, Pacific Ethanol’s President and CEO.

The 60 million gallon per year Stockton facility is located at the Port of Stockton, with access to water, rail and road transportation. This San Joaquin Valley area is also home to over one million dairy cows, providing a ready local market for wet distiller’s grains and other ethanol co-products produced by the plant.

Pacific Ethanol is the largest West Coast-based marketer and producer of ethanol with plants in Madera and Stockton, Calif.; Boardman, Ore.; and Burley, Idaho.