Pacific Ethanol, the leading West Coast-based marketer and producer of ethanol, announced its intention to temporarily suspend operations at its 40-million-gallon-per-year ethanol facility located in Madera, Calif.

Extended unfavorable market conditions for producing ethanol has prompted Pacific Ethanol to suspend operations beginning Jan. 12.

The company, through its wholly-owned ethanol marketing arm, Kinergy Marketing, intends to continue serving its ethanol customers with production from other Pacific Ethanol plants and Kinergy suppliers.

Pacific Ethanol is the largest West Coast-based marketer and producer of ethanol. Pacific Ethanol has ethanol plants in Madera and Stockton, Calif.; Boardman, Ore.; and Burley, Idaho. Pacific Ethanol also owns a 42 percent interest in Front Range Energy, LLC which owns an ethanol plant in Windsor, Colo. Central to Pacific Ethanol's growth strategy is its destination business model, whereby each respective ethanol plant achieves lower process and transportation costs by servicing local markets for both fuel and feed. Pacific Ethanol has achieved its goal of 220 million gallons per year of ethanol production capacity in 2008 and plans to increase total production capacity to 420 million gallons per year in 2010. In addition, Pacific Ethanol is working to identify and develop other renewable fuel technologies, such as cellulose-based ethanol production and bio-diesel.