CALIFORNIA ETHANOL AND POWER LLC

HEADQUARTERS: Manhattan Beach

YEAR FOUNDED: 2007

BUSINESS: Developing ethanol plant using sugar cane as feedstock; also contracting with farmers in Imperial Valley to grow the sugar cane crops to supply the plant.

CEO: David Rubenstein

EMPLOYEES: 5 full-time

TOTAL FUNDING TO DATE: Nearly $30 million: $27 million in capital raised from families, friends and other sources and a $2.5 million grant from the Imperial Irrigation District

NOTABLE: If California Ethanol and Power is successful in building the plant, it would be the first ethanol plant in the U.S. to use sugar cane as feedstock.