BRAWLEY – A year after a devastating factory closure dismantled the region’s historic sugar industry, a massive clean-energy campus is putting local agricultural and construction crews back to work.

California Ethanol + Power announced that engineering, fabrication, and agricultural work are officially underway at its Sugar Valley Energy campus. The push is fueled by funding from the California Jobs First Catalyst Pre-Development grant, a state initiative designed to kickstart high-impact economic projects.

Administered locally by the Imperial Valley Economic Development Corp., the grant is funding more than 7,000 labor hours. The money is flowing directly into the local economy, clearing the final pre-construction hurdles for one of the most ambitious renewable energy projects in the state.

The activity comes at a critical time for the region. The April 2025 closure of the Spreckels Sugar plant in Brawley eliminated more than 700 jobs and wiped out a $243 million regional industry. With local unemployment currently hovering above 20%, the Sugar Valley Energy project is explicitly designed to heal that economic wound.

“Catalyst funding is doing exactly what it was designed to do: turning a shovel-ready plan into real paychecks, real purchase orders, and real progress on the ground,” said Dave Rubenstein, president and CEO of California Ethanol + Power. “We set out to build this project with local hands, local soil, and local know-how.”

Once fully operational, the fully permitted campus will convert locally grown sugarcane into roughly 77 million gallons of ultra-low-carbon ethanol annually. It will also generate 43 megawatts of renewable electricity, produce more than 800,000 MMBtu of biomethane, and treat over 1 million gallons of wastewater per day.

Economists project the completed campus will generate more than $928 million in direct economic activity, support upwards of 15,000 temporary construction jobs, and create 250 permanent, family-sustaining positions in Imperial County.

The current six-month Catalyst grant phase focuses on three key partners handling engineering, equipment procurement, and agricultural preparation:

• Benson Farms (Brawley, Calif.): The multi-generational local grower is leading a five-month, 5,860-hour agricultural readiness program on a 70-acre sugarcane seedstock plot. This secures the initial sugarcane supply needed to anchor the campus.

• Duggins Construction Inc. (Imperial, Calif.): A cornerstone regional contractor celebrating roughly 65 years in business, the firm has been tapped to design and manufacture a standalone electrical enclosure for the project’s first phase.

• Wellons, Inc.: The California-based specialist has manufactured and delivered a custom, certified blowdown flash tank for the renewable power facility to maximize thermal efficiency.

By contracting with more than 50 local farming entities to cultivate sugarcane across 48,000 acres, the developers intend to support more than 2,000 agricultural jobs at full operation.

“Seeing Imperial Valley firms like Duggins Construction and Benson Farms working alongside best-in-class specialists from across the country is exactly the model the region needs,” Rubenstein said.