The $US120 million ($A158 million) facility will refine corn into ethanol to be blended with petrol in order to replace the equivalent of 2.4 million barrels of imported fuel each year.
The Yuma project is the second of five 100 million gallon per year fuel ethanol plants Panda will build in the near future. The Yuma plant and its sister Hereford facility will be powered by biogas fuel extracted from a billion pounds of cattle manure each year, saving the equivalent of 1000 barrels of oil per day and making them the most energy-efficient ethanol refineries in the United States.
"Soaring gas prices have forced our country to look at alternative measures to reduce dependence on foreign oil and lower costs for consumers at the gas pump," said Panda Development Group president Todd Carter.
"The Yuma plant will become an important part of helping the United States move away from foreign oil. The Yuma community has been outstanding in its welcome and support of our newest ethanol facility and will be part of America's drive towards energy independence."
The recent enactment of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 expands the US government mandate for increased ethanol use in blended petrol to 7.5 billion gallons per year by 2012, compared to fuel ethanol production in 2004 of 3.4 billion gallons. The US uses 140 billion gallons of petrol per year.
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