WALNUT, Calif., Feb. 11, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VIASPACE Inc. (OTCQB:VSPC) today announced that the company harvested a large number of seedlings from its Giant KingTM Grass nursery in California and had them transported in a 40 foot refrigerated container to St. Croix, US Virgin Islands where they have been planted in a 25 acre propagation nursery operated by Tibbar Energy. Tibbar plans to propagate the Giant King Grass to create a 1000+ acre plantation to fuel the 7 MW anaerobic digestion power plant that Tibbar is building on St. Croix.
The Giant King Grass will be ready to propagate within six months and Tibbar plans to have the power plant in operation in the first quarter of 2014. The St. Croix Public Services Commission approved Tibbar Energy's facility design for a 7 MW anaerobic generator that uses VIASPACE's proprietary Giant King Grass energy crop in December 2012.
Tibbar Energy's St. Croix project will be as close to organic farming as possible using the digestate from the anaerobic digestion process as a fertilizer to grow Giant King Grass. Tibbar President and CEO Tania Tomyn reports, "Our farm will be a conventional farming operation." Additionally, Tibbar will have a small amount of compressed natural gas that will be produced from the bio-gas to run the fleet of trucks that haul the Giant King Grass. These will be the first compressed natural gas trucks on St. Croix.
Tibbar Energy signed an exclusive agreement with VIASPACE in September 2012, and received a small initial shipment of Giant King Grass which was planted on September 29, 2012 as an initial test. This Giant King Grass is four months old and is over 10 feet tall.
Tomyn continued, "The Giant King Grass grows well in tropical St. Croix. The test was very successful, and we decided to go forward with the 25 acre propagation nursery. We are slated to have the full plantation and power plant up and running by early second quarter of 2014."
"The Giant King Grass has become an attraction on St. Croix. We hosted a third grade class field trip in January, and tourists from Syracuse, New York asked for a tour. Green energy is very popular."
Below are pictures of the original Giant King Grass on St. Croix with the third-grade class, and also a picture of the new site where Giant King Grass was recently planted. If the photos are not displayed, click on these links http://pricetargetmedia.com/images/st_croix_growing_king_grass.jpg, http://pricetargetmedia.com/images/st_croix_school_children.jpg
If the above image of our St Croix Giant King Grass nursery isn't displayed, please click the following link: http://pricetargetmedia.com/images/st_croix_giant_king_grass_nursery.jpg
"The 20 plus acre shipment to Tibbar was our largest from the propagation nursery in California," reports VIASPACE CEO Dr. Carl Kukkonen. "Late December and January was a very busy time for VIASPACE. We shipped and planted Giant King Grass in South Africa, Hawaii and Central America in addition to St. Croix. The Department of Agriculture is working very closely with us to inspect the shipments and issue the phytosanitary certificates that show that the Giant King Grass is pest and disease free."
VIASPACE Chairman, Dr. Kevin Schewe, commented, "Having USDA approval of Giant King Grass and our domestic propagation nursery in California, have both significantly contributed to our ability to respond to our customers and the ever increasing demand for GKG as the world's highest yielding biomass platform. This is certainly true in our partnership with Tibbar Energy in St. Croix and we are so pleased with every aspect of our project there. We are receiving more requests for proposals than ever before and believe that the rapidly increasing global demand has made GKG the biomass platform of choice because its high yield makes the economics of this green energy business profitable.
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.
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.
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.
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The following files are available for download:
| [Image] | Giant King Grass on St Croix with the third-grade class |
| [Image] | St Croix Giant King Grass nursery |
| [Image] | Giant King Grass |