VIASPACE INC
Symbol VSPC
VIASPACE Provides Business Update
2010-01-26 08:30 ET - News Release
Also News Release (U-VGREF) VIASPACE GREEN ENERGY ORD VIRGIN
IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- VIASPACE Inc., a clean energy company growing Giant King(TM) Grass as a low-carbon, renewable energy crop, announced today that Chief Executive Dr. Carl Kukkonen is in Asia meeting with potential joint venture partners and customers as part of the Company's plan to grow, harvest and sell Giant King Grass as a viable alternative to high pollutant fossil fuels being used in electricity generating power plants.
Giant King Grass has the highest yield (tons per acre and energy per acre) of any crop the Company is aware of. Giant King Grass can be directly burned in biomass power plants and or may be converted into energy pellets to replace up to 20% of the coal in existing coal fired power plants. Using biomass instead of coal reduces overall carbon dioxide emissions, because the next crop of Giant King Grass absorbs carbon dioxide as it grows. Because of its extremely high yield and carbon-neutral footprint, Giant King Grass has gained widespread interest from potential growers and power plant owners and operators, including in Asia where the climate conditions and rainfall are ideal, and large tracts of marginal land are available.
Kukkonen is meeting with potential growing and pellet production partners in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore. He is also meeting with power plant owners and operators from China and India.
In order to assure sufficient growing capacity to meet expected initial demand, VIASPACE is cultivating Giant King Grass on its existing 250 acres in southern China. The site serves as a nursery for Giant King Grass seedlings that are expected to be needed for a large-scale project of up to 5000 acres anticipated in 2010. VIASPACE has recently completed construction of a 20,000 square ft. production processing facility adjacent to the Giant King Grass fields in China.
Giant King Grass also offers excellent potential as feedstock for making liquid biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol and grassoline, and to produce bio methane using a process called anaerobic digestion. Recent independent testing, conducted in two laboratories in Europe, by potential customers showed that the bio methane production capability of Giant King Grass is outstanding. Bio methane production will be discussed at meetings in Thailand and Indonesia.
A slide presentation about Giant King Grass used recently at the Pacific West Biomass Conference provides an overview of the Company's strategy and is available on the lower right of the homepage at www.VIASPACE.com.
VIASPACE recently obtained approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to list its majority owned subsidiary VIASPACE Green Energy (VGE) as a separate publicly traded company on the OTC Bulletin Board with the stock symbol VGREF.
VIASPACE Chief Executive Dr. Carl Kukkonen stated: "We expect trading in VGE shares to begin within the next few weeks with VIASPACE Inc. retaining its majority control of VGE. As a result, VIASPACE Inc. will continue to consolidate and report revenue and profits from VIASPACE Green Energy. In addition, as controlling shareholders of VGE, VIASPACE Inc. shareholders are expected to benefit from future appreciation in the price of VGE shares."
VGE's businesses will include Giant King Grass and IPA, the current and profitable framed art business. In addition to remaining the majority shareholder of VGE, VIASPACE will continue its ownership and operation of subsidiaries Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Corporation, a fuel cartridge company with direct methanol fuel cell licenses from Caltech and the University of Southern California, and Ionfinity, a security technology company with U.S. Army and U.S. Navy contracts.
Having VGE as a separate public company meets a condition for closing the IPA acquisition, which is expected by February 15, 2010, VIASPACE Inc. expects to soon complete negotiations with its largest shareholder to satisfy the Company's obligations with respect to the closing. It is expected that current management of both VIASPACE and VGE will remain intact, with Kukkonen as the CEO of both companies, and the shareholder continuing to serve as an officer of VGE to aggressively pursue the profitable framed art business as well as Giant King Grass opportunities.
About VIASPACE Inc.
