Viaspace, Inc. (VSPC)

[Tanne]

First Giant King Grass Harvest


2009-12-02 08:30 ET - News Release







IRVINE, Calif., Dec. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- VIASPACE Inc. , a clean energy company growing Giant King(TM) Grass as a renewable, low-carbon energy crop, today announced that the first harvest of Giant King Grass has been completed and that a new grass processing and storage facility is under construction on company land in China.


Chief Executive Dr. Carl Kukkonen stated: "The grass from this harvest provided seedlings for planting on our new land and is also being used to supply samples for testing and analysis by potential customers such as DP CleanTech and other electric power providers. The new building, now under construction, will process Giant King Grass into pellets and other biomass products, as well as prepare seedlings for the planned expansion of planted acreage."


According to Kukkonen, a new independent analysis in Europe verified that Giant King Grass has excellent energy content (19.2 megajoules per dry kilogram, or 4,585 kilocalories per kilogram-- slightly higher than previous measurements). And the fast-growing nature of Giant King Grass means it is a highly productive and economically advantageous crop, compared to all other biomass crops. Furthermore, Giant King Grass can be harvested in the first year, whereas many other energy crops cannot be harvested until they have been growing for two or more years. "We feel these characteristics together make Giant King Grass very attractive to biomass users, and we are seeing evidence of that in the form of requests for proposals, sales inquiries and MOUs," he said.


Kukkonen gave a presentation on Giant King Grass at the Next-Generation Biofuels Feedstocks USA Conference held November 16-17, 2009, at Le Meridien Hotel in San Francisco. The presentation--with pictures of the harvest, new land and building--is available at the bottom right of the home page of VIASPACE's website www.VIASPACE.com.


A follow-up interview with Kukkonen was published on November 23, 2009, by the DTN Ethanol Center. The interview is available at the bottom of the home page and may be accessed directly at http://www.dtnethanolcenter.com/index.cfm?show=10&mid=83&pid=37 .


Prior to the presentation and interview, Kukkonen was on a three-week trip to Asia, where he visited the Company's grass lands and met with current and potential partners and customers.