WALNUT, Calif., Dec. 20, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VIASPACE Inc. (OTCQB:VSPC) today announced that on Tuesday, December 18, 2012, the St. Croix Public Services Commission (PSC) voted to approve Tibbar Energy's facility design for a 6MW anaerobic generator that uses VIASPACE's proprietary Giant King™ Grass as the source of continuously renewable green energy fuel. The story was carried by the "St. Croix Source" publication on Wednesday, December 19, 2012 and is quoted below:
"A plan to grow 1,500 acres of hybrid Giant King Grass on St. Croix and convert it to bio-fuel for generating electricity took a step forward Tuesday night when the Public Services Commission approved Tibbar Energy USVI's application for facility design.
By a vote of 4-0 with two absent, the PSC approved the application at its monthly meeting on St. Thomas with St. Croix commissioners Sirri Hamad and Joseph San Martin joining newly elected Commission Chairman M. Thomas Jackson and Vice-Chairwoman Elsie V. Thomas-Turton via teleconference to form a quorum.
Tibbar Energy owner Tanya Coleman and legal counsel Kevin A. Rames presented an overview of the company and adding that Giant King Grass is a fast-growing, high yield grass that is neither genetically modified nor invasive.
The Tibbar representatives told the commission the grass does not compete with other crops, is similar to sugar cane and uses a high-nutrient fertilizer water which will not deplete the soil. Farmers will be provided with free fertilizer.
Tibbar plans to create 40 new jobs in the project, they said, and hopes to harvest 500 to 600 tons a day, running the grass through an anaerobic generator which can produce up to seven kilowatts per hour. Tibbar is pursuing a contractual rate with the Water and Power Authority, Coleman said, adding that Tibbar 'can begin to provide power by Jan. 1, 2014.' "
VIASPACE Chairman, Dr. Kevin Schewe, commented: "We are certainly pleased to report that our partnership with Tibbar Energy to fuel a clean-energy 6MW anaerobic power plant with Giant King Grass on St. Croix is progressing on schedule. Our business model is to collect regular, predictable license fees as Giant King Grass is harvested by our customers over the life of their projects, and in this case, over a 20 year time frame. In this 1,500 acre project using high-yielding Giant King Grass, we hope to harvest 500-600 tons of Giant King Grass per day and the harvesting is scheduled to begin in St. Croix in 2013. We are actively engaged in significantly larger acreage projects and in projects that we expect to serve as co-developer of the power plant where, in addition to our license fees, we could also generate recurring revenue from the sale of local electricity. We are genuinely excited about the pace and extent of our corporate progress as we head into 2013."
About VIASPACE Inc.
VIASPACE grows renewable Giant KingTM Grass as a low-carbon fuel for clean electricity generation; for environmentally friendly energy pellets; and as a feedstock for bio-methane production and for green cellulosic biofuels, biochemicals and biomaterials. Giant King Grass is a proprietary, high yield, dedicated biomass clean energy crop that does not compete with or displace food production. For more information, please go to www.VIASPACE.com or contact Dr. Jan Vandersande, Director of Communications, at 800-517-8050 or IR@VIASPACE.com.
The VIASPACE Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=15154
Safe Harbor Statement
Information in this news release includes forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Such factors include, without limitation, risks outlined in our periodic filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011, and other factors over which VIASPACE has little or no control.
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