Feb. 20--VENUS -- The 140 full-time jobs and hundreds of construction jobs created in Highlands County to build a cellulose ethanol plant already are known, but now a big player is stepping up. British Petroleum (BP) will be a part of the ethanol plant.

On behalf of Verenium in a news release, Bryan Blatstein wrote that the 50/50 joint venture company announced Wednesday that it planned to break ground on its first commercial-scale cellulosic plant by 2010 in Highlands County.

The companies seek to speed up the availability of ethanol derived from non-food feed stocks and get the biofuel into American gas pumps.

If all goes as planned, start of production would be sometime in 2012.

Verenium operates on the premise that using technology to produce ethanol from other sources such as grasses like sorghum instead of corn can enable it to sidestep and resolve the "food versus fuel" debate and help produce more food and more fuel.

The joint venture will act as the commercial entity for the deployment of cellulosic ethanol technology being developed and proven under the first phase of the BP -- Verenium partnership, he said.

Together, the companies have agreed to commit $45 million in funding and assets to the joint venture company's projects, which include the Highlands County plant as well as another commercial project site in early stages of development. The joint venture company will be based in Cambridge, Mass.

It will initially focus on developing and securing financing for a first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol facility in Highlands County, the press release stated.

This collaboration represents a critical next step in positioning Verenium and BP at the forefront of commercializing cellulosic biofuels in the United States, said Carlos A. Riva, president and chief executive officer of Verenium.

"The creation of this joint venture brings together innovative and experienced developers, designers, engineers, operators and managers capable of realizing the potential of this technology," said Riva. "This is a true convergence of industrial biotechnology and energy production processes, which will allow us to deliver cleaner and more sustainable fuels.

At a press conference held Wednesday, Riva said this was the second phase of a collaboration with BP, which began last year.

The estimated need for cellulosic ethanol for U.S. fuel stock was expected to grow from 500 million gallons in 2012 to 16 billion gallons in 2022.

The $45 million investment was to secure debt financing, regulatory approval and preliminary engineering to allow them to break ground.