IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- VIASPACE Inc. (OTC
Bulletin Board: VSPC), and its renewable energy subsidiary VIASPACE
Green Energy Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: VGREF), announced today that
they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with PT Provident
Agro of Jakarta Indonesia with the
goal to use Giant King™ Grass as feedstock for a large scale pellet
mill to manufacture a minimum of 300,000 metric tonnes per year of
pellets for the export market, primarily in Europe.
Provident Agro owns extensive oil palm plantations and land in
Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi, Indonesia with a total land bank of 150,000
hectares (370,000 acres) producing more than 23,500 tons of crude
palm oil each year. Provident Agro is owned 50% by the Saratoga
Group and 50% by Provident Capital Indonesia. The Saratoga
group, headed by Edwin Soeryadjaya, Ernst & Young's Indonesian
Entrepreneur of the Year in 2010, has extensive holdings in energy
and natural resources including coal and palm plantations.
Saratoga and Provident Capital Indonesia also own a network
of cell phone towers in Indonesia.
Under the Memorandum of Understanding, Provident Agro will
initially plant a 25 acre test plot in Indonesia using Giant King Grass seedlings
provided under contract by VIASPACE. Details of the business
relationship were not provided. Provident Agro has signed a
Nondisclosure and Non-Circumvention Agreement with VIASPACE, and
has visited the Giant King Grass plantation in China as part of its due diligence.
Giant King Grass is a very high
yield, nonfood, low carbon energy crop that can be burned in
electric power plants to replace coal. The carbon dioxide released
when Giant King Grass is burned is reabsorbed by the next crop
growing 120 days later. With only minor modifications, many
existing power plants can burn up to 25% Giant King Grass pellets
instead of coal, thus reducing their carbon emissions by 25% and
meeting their emissions targets for the next 10 to 20 years while
preserving their large capital investment. New power plants can
burn up to 100% Giant King Grass.
Bloomberg reported on December 3,
2010, "The highest-priced coal in two years is making wood
pellets a viable fuel alternative for U.K. power producers,
heralding a doubling of electricity generation from biomass in the
next three years...Benchmark coal for delivery next month in
Northwest Europe has climbed 40
percent this year to close at $116.25
a metric ton yesterday, the highest since Oct. 24, 2008, according to data compiled by
Bloomberg from broker prices. Pellets have fallen 0.7 percent this
year to 126.30 euros ($167) a ton, according to APX-Endex, an
Amsterdam-based exchange
that plans to begin trading of wood contracts on its
system by mid-2011...Power companies are turning to biomass as the
profit from coal-based electricity generation slides."
Giant King Grass is a dedicated
and sustainably grown energy crop that provides an attractive
alternative to wood pellets which are being criticized for
diverting wood waste from current applications in the pulp &
paper, plywood, veneer and engineered wood products industries.
About VIASPACE Inc.
VIASPACE is a clean energy company providing products and
technology for renewable and alternative energy that reduce or
eliminate dependence on fossil and high-pollutant energy sources.
Through its majority-owned subsidiary VIASPACE Green Energy Inc.,
the Company grows Giant King Grass
as a low-carbon fuel for electricity generating power plants, as a
feedstock for bio methane production and cellulosic biofuels, and
for other low-carbon, renewable energy products. VIASPACE Green
Energy recently introduced its Green Log™ fireplace and campfire
log product. For more information, please go to www.viaspace.com or
www.viaspacegreenenergy.com, or contact Dr. Jan Vandersande, Director of Communications, at
800-517-8050 or IR@VIASPACE.com.
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 any future results, levels of activity, performance
or achievements 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, 2009, as well
as general economic and business conditions; the ability to acquire
and develop specific products and technologies; changes in consumer
and business demand for the Company's products; competition from
larger companies; changes in demand for alternative and clean
energy; risks associated with international transactions; risks
related to technological change; and other factors over which
VIASPACE has little or no control.
SOURCE VIASPACE Inc.