General Motors (GM), Detroit, has partnered with Coskata, a renewable energy start-up company in Warrenville, Ill., to produce ethanol from industrial and solid waste.

“We are very excited about what this breakthrough will mean to the viability of biofuels and, more importantly, to our ability to reduce dependence on petroleum,” said Rick Wagoner, GM chairman and CEO, in a press release. Details of the GM investment and its ownership stake from the partnership were not disclosed.

GM will begin receiving the ethanol from Coskata’s pilot plant during the fourth quarter of 2008. The fuel will be used in GM testing vehicles.