WALNUT, Calif., September 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- VIASPACE Inc.
(OTC: VSPC) today reported that CEO, Dr. Carl Kukkonen, met with potential Giant King
Grass customers in Hawaii. Dr. Kukkonen also attended the
Asia Pacific Clean Energy Summit held in Honolulu September
15-17, where he gave an invited presentation at a special
conference track on Agricultural Innovation.
On March 17, 2014, VIASPACE
announced that Giant King Grass was released from the mandatory
one-year quarantine on Hawaii
after the Hawaii Department of Agriculture found it to be free of
pests and disease. Giant King Grass
is currently growing well in Hawaii, and an update will be provided in a
future press release (Part II).
Potential customers included Hawaiian businessmen working to
revive agriculture on Hawaii, and
also to produce clean energy. Hawaii once had a thriving cattle business. At
this time, cattle born in Hawaii
are mostly shipped to the mainland for growth and finishing. Pig
farming is also important on Hawaii, but much of the big food needs to be
imported from the mainland. There were once 12 sugar mills in
Hawaii. Now there is one sugar
plantation and mill located on Maui, and substantial plantation lands lie
fallow. Most of the pineapple business has left Hawaii. There is significant underemployment
in the agriculture industry.
Dr. Kukkonen reported, "There are business people in
Hawaii now working to revive the
cattle and dairy industries. Today most cattle are put out to
pasture on large ranches which have local grasses such as
Guinea grass. The land can support
about 50 cattle per 100 acres. Giant King
Grass with 10 – 15% protein is higher quality than
Guinea grass that has about 5%
protein. Giant King Grass also has
much higher yield. With proper agriculture, Giant King Grass can
support about 400 cattle or dairy cows per 100 acres. Giant
King Grass can also be an important
part of the diet for sheep, goats, horses and pigs. I believe that
Giant King Grass can play an important role in animal feed in
Hawaii and other tropical and
subtropical regions."
Hawaii has the highest
electricity prices in the US. Much of the electricity in
Hawaii is produced from oil which
is imported and expensive. Wind and solar electricity are
intermittently available and Hawaii has difficulty in providing the backup
power which is needed to provide consistent levels of electricity.
Currently each Hawaiian island has its own separate grid and there
is no undersea power line to make a statewide grid.
Kukkonen continued, "I heard a presentation on an ambitious
concept to pump water uphill to a dam during times when there is
excess solar or wind electricity. The plan is to then let the water
run downhill and produce hydroelectricity when the wind is not
blowing or during the nighttime. This is certainly possible, but
growing Giant King Grass to fuel a reliable and 24/7 biomass power
plant is a simpler and lower cost solution. Pumping water uphill to
a dam is the only way to store electricity today on a large scale.
It may be feasible in very special areas, but Giant King Grass
clean renewable electricity should have much broader applicability.
There was also a detailed concept to bring in containers of
liquefied natural gas to the big island of Hawaii to replace oil for producing reliable
electricity. This is feasible and would be a bit less expensive
than oil and natural gas produces less carbon dioxide than oil.
Both of these examples illustrate how difficult and expensive it is
to produce electricity on island nations."
"I met with parties that are trying to develop biomass power
plants using anaerobic digestion to produce clean bio electricity.
They were interested in Giant King Grass as a dedicated energy
crop. VIASPACE has just finished another round of extensive testing
of Giant King Grass for anaerobic digestion and it is an excellent
feedstock to produce biogas. We have action items to provide data
to these potential customers."
Kukkonen also met with potential customers from other countries
in the Asia-Pacific region. There
are opportunities for Giant King Grass on islands like Guam.
VIASPACE Chairman, Dr. Kevin
Schewe, concluded, "We have been very busy in Hawaii since our Giant King Grass was
successfully released from quarantine there earlier this year.
Giant King Grass is now growing
incredibly well in Hawaii and we
will be specifically discussing this progress soon. There is a
picture of our Hawaiian Giant King Grass standing at our booth at
the Asia Pacific Clean Energy Summit and posted on our VIASPACE
Facebook page. It takes time to develop a brand new plant/biomass
platform and animal feed source in Hawaii, but we have now passed the major
hurdles there and are ready for primetime. We have the most perfect
solution for renewable biomass energy and animal feed for
Hawaii and we are pursuing our
business opportunities there."
The presentation titled: "Giant King Grass: Dual Use Crop--
Animal Feed and Bioenergy" is available on the VIASPACE website
www.VIASPACE.com. Pictures from the Asia-Pacific Clean Energy
Summit are available on the VIASPACE Facebook page
www.facebook.com/viaspaceinc.
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 energy crop. Giant King
Grass when it is cut frequently at 4 to 9 feet tall is also
excellent animal feed. The USDA granted approval for planting Giant
King Grass throughout the US and cooperates in exporting by
performing the required inspections and issuing the phytosanitary
certificate needed for import into foreign countries. Giant
King Grass is being grown in
California, Arizona, Hawaii, St. Croix Virgin Islands, Nicaragua, South
Africa, China, Myanmar, Pakistan, Guyana and Jamaica. 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.
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, 2013, and
other factors over which VIASPACE has little or no control.
SOURCE VIASPACE Inc.