Substation planned for Warden biodiesel

Business granted extension

EPHRATA — Washington Biodiesel was granted an extension to help pay for a new electrical substation for its canola-seed crushing plant near Warden.

Grant County PUD commissioners approved the extension on Monday, giving the company until Dec. 31 to pay the PUD $431,391 as part of a facilities cost contribution.

The landowner for the site, the Port of Warden, paid $1.2 million, said Kevin Raymond, the company’s general counsel. Washington Biodiesel is leasing 50 acres of land for the project from the port, he said.

“At present, the $1.2 million in public dollars is not at risk and the port could get it back,” Raymond said.

The money was loaned to the port by the state, he added.

He said the extension is important because it gives the port until the end of the year if the project isn’t financed or if construction hasn’t started.

Raymond said the company hopes to start construction in November and have the plant running by early 2010.

He said the substation is expected to have the capacity to meet additional growth and economic development.

The Seattle-company asked for electrical service in the Warden area for its plant, said Diane Chestnut, Grant PUD’s industrial and energy services manager.

Industrial companies wanting power are required to help pay for the work, Chestnut said. New substations aren’t always built and the current Warden substation doesn’t have enough capacity for the biodiesel project, she said.

“They’ve been working just getting their financing together,” she said. “They’ve worked really hard to get this project going,” she said. “They feel they’re getting very close.”

In 2006, initial plans for the plant involved building a canola seed crushing facility to produce biodiesel.

When the plant opens, it’s expected 2,000 jobs will be created statewide in the areas of canola harvesting, processing and transportation, according to the Grant County Economic Development Council. About 35 jobs could be added locally, the newsletter states.

Raymond said the company has a strategy called “crush first.” The first stage of the development involves building a biofuel oilseed crushing facility, which will crush 40 million gallons of canola oil annually. The oil will be made available for biodiesel production.

The second phase of the project is to add biodiesel production facilities at the site at an undetermined time, he said.

“We’ll be crushing seed into canola oil and produce biodiesel directly there,” Raymond said.

When the company does start working with biodiesel, it’s expected company representatives will return to the utility and ask for more megawatts of power, Chestnut said.

The company originally wanted 25 megawatts and now just wants 15 megawatts, she clarified.