WALNUT, Calif., Oct. 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- VIASPACE Inc.
(OTC: VSPC) today reported that Giant King Grass was shipped to and
planted by its partner, Sagay Central, Inc., in Negros Occidental,
Philippines. Sagay Central is a
sugar milling and sugar growing company in the center of
the Philippines sugar industry. It
crushes 4,000 metric tons of sugar cane every day and produces
150,000 tons of sugar per year. Sagay Central was
founded in 1968 and its products include raw sugar, washed sugar
and specialty Muscavado sugar for the domestic market and
export.
The Giant King Grass was harvested from the VIASPACE nursery in
Southern California. It was
inspected by the US Department of Agriculture to meet the
conditions of the SPS Import Clearance of the Philippines
Department of Agriculture. The US Department of Agriculture found
the Giant King Grass to be free of pests and disease, and issued
the required phytosanitary certificate. The Giant King Grass
planting material was sent by airfreight to Manila where it cleared customs, and then was
forwarded by ferry to Negros.
VIASPACE CEO, Dr. Carl Kukkonen,
traveled to the Philippines to
meet with officials from Sagay Central and to personally oversee
the planting of the Giant King Grass.
Sugarcane is crushed or pressed in a series of mills to remove
the juice which is then processed into crystalline sugar and
molasses. The remaining chopped fibrous sugarcane, called bagasse,
is burned in a boiler that produces heat for the sugar making
processes and electricity to power the sugar mill. The sugar season
at Sagay Central is nine months per year. Other mills only operate
six months per year.
Mr. Romie Cortez, President of
Sagay Central, Inc. said: "We signed a contract with VIASPACE
in 2013. We are happy after some delays to get this important
biomass renewable energy project underway. Sagay has a nine-month
sugarcane crushing season. We crush about 400 truckloads
of sugar cane every day, but we only operate nine months a
year. With Giant King Grass, we plan to be able to operate our
proposed power plant 12 months per year and provide the excess
electricity to the national grid. We also plan to sell Giant King
Grass to other sugar mills to do the same. This will expand and
diversify our operations and lead to increased profitability.
We plan to use our existing sugar mill to press out the juice from
the Giant King Grass and create "Giant King Grass bagasse" which we
will burn in our boiler."
Resident Manager, Primitvo
Rivera, reported: "Sagay Central has to continually innovate
in order to be competitive in this market. We have to do more than
just produce raw sugar. There is land near Sagay that is not
suitable for sugarcane, and we now plan to grow Giant King Grass on
that land. The Philippines needs
more electricity, and we believe we can help with this. We
presented our plans for Giant King Grass at the Philippines Sugar
Technologist Association, Inc. national convention in 2013 and won
an award for the best technical paper. The Sagay agronomist is
working with Dr. Kukkonen to make sure that the Giant King Grass is
planted and grown properly. Initially, we will use Giant King
Grass to produce electricity locally, and we have ideas for export
as well."
"I was very impressed with Sagay", reported Dr. Kukkonen. "They
are a very professional operation. VIASPACE will work hard to make
them successful. I want to thank Sagay for all their hospitality. I
learned many things about operations that are applicable to our
other projects around the world."
VIASPACE Chairman, Dr. Kevin
Schewe, commented: "We have been working with Sagay Central
since 2013 and we have now seen our joint efforts come to fruition.
This relationship is not a "test plot" but is an expansion of
business for Sagay to extend their power plant operation to a full
12 months per year and sell excess electricity to the national
grid. We know that Giant King Grass will grow well in proximity to
sugar cane and Sagay has nearly 46 years of experience in this
regard. They also plan to use adjacent lands that are not entirely
suitable for sugar cane to broaden their scope of using Giant King
Grass for commercial purposes and to increase their overall
profitability. VIASPACE will receive long-term license revenues
from Sagay's commercial harvesting of Giant King Grass and we are
thoroughly pleased to be working with such a solid company in
the Philippines."
Pictures from Sagay Central in the
Philippines are available on the VIASPACE Facebook page
www.facebook.com/viaspaceinc.
About VIASPACE Inc.
VIASPACE grows renewable Giant King™ 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, Jamaica and the Philippines. 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.