The U.S. military plans to up its share of biofuels, including biodiesel and ethanol, by nearly a billion gallons over the next few years.

But this article from Biofuels Digest says officials warn that won’t be enough to be the sole driver in the market:

Mark Iden of the Defense Logistics Agency confirmed that the US government proposed to purchase several hundred million gallons of drop-in advanced biofuels by 2016, citing an expected demand of 336 million gallons from the Navy and 587 million gallons from the Air Force.

But Iden, likened the government, although a large customer, to a large commercial airline in terms of purchasing power, and cautioned biofuels producers that the Department of Defense would be a large buyer but not in enough quantity to “singlehandedly drive a market.”

Meanwhile, Navy officials say they will be undertaking a “biorefinery development analysis” to gauge the Navy’s participation in green fuels development.