VIASPACE eyes biomass deals in Philippines and China

VIASPACE Green Energy Inc. CEO Dr. Carl Kukkonen  discussed potential electric power plants and pellet mills that could be co-located with Giant King.

Grass plantations in several areas of the Philippines.  Kukkonen visited potential growing sites on Luzon near Manila and in Mindanao.

Kukkonen stated, "The Philippines has a significant shortage of power, and the government is encouraging clean renewable electricity from biomass.  I met with the Philippines Department of Energy and with businessmen and local government officials.  The Department of Energy will release its pricing for biomass electricity in the second quarter of the year. The weather in the Philippines is good for Giant King Grass; land is available and the potential for biomass is very high.  Giant King Grass was well received."

In China, VIASPACE conducted four separate visits to the Giant King Grass plantation and Green Log™ factory for potential customers.  Two of the groups were from Thailand and their due diligence visits followed business meetings held earlier in January in Bangkok.  One group is developing a 25 MW biomass power plant in Thailand to provide electricity and process steam for their processing factory which is under construction. The second group from Thailand is examining Giant King Grass as a clean source of heat in the cement industry.

A large Chinese energy company planning to develop a 50 megawatt biomass power plant toured the Giant King Grass plantation.  The company has many other operating power projects and the proposed biomass power plant, awaiting government approval, would be located near the current Giant King Grass plantation. The last visitor to the plantation was a company that currently operates an electric power plant in Cambodia that plans to add additional capacity using biomass.