Biodiesel Industries receives grant from CEC

On 1 December the California Energy Commission (CEC) approved the project grant for biodiesel producer Biodiesel Industries to support the state’s Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program.

The biofuel production plant grants provide funding and financial assistance for the development of new, California-based biofuel production and enhance the operation of existing plants to increase biofuel production and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The company was awarded $886,815 (€663,285) in funding after it was ranked in the top three of 44 projects competing for the grant. The company’s ARIES Bioenergy Project will demonstrate the use of advanced biodiesel production techniques utilising algae in an integrated energy system monitored by the ARIES (Automated Real-time, Remote, Intelligent Integrated Energy System) platform.

Project work will be conducted at Naval Base Ventura County at Port Hueneme, California, in conjunction with the ARIES Biodiesel Production demonstration and validation programme under an ongoing Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center.

Russell Teall, president and founder of Biodiesel Industries, explained, ‘The Integrated Energy System incorporated into ARIES will eventually allow us to generate our own heat and power, and to feed the surplus into a local micro-grid. These Energy Islands will support the local community with renewable and sustainable fuel, electricity and heat.’