VIASPACE CEO Met With Potential Customers and Partners in Korea and Made an Invited Presentation on Giant King Grass at Biomass Pellets Trade Asia Conference

IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- VIASPACE Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: VSPC), a clean energy company growing Giant King™ Grass as a low-carbon, renewable biomass crop and its subsidiary VIASPACE Green Energy Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: VGREF), today announced that chief executive Dr. Carl Kukkonen was in Korea September 5 – 10 where he met with potential customers and business partners and made an invited presentation at the 2nd Biomass Pellets Trade Asia conference held in Seoul, Korea September 7-8, 2011. Dr. Kukkonen's presentation was entitled "Wood Pellets or Agricultural Pellets - Pluses and Minuses" and compared the technical issues, pellet availability and cost of wood pellets and agricultural pellets such as those made from Giant King Grass.  The presentation is available on the VIASPACE website www.VIASPACE.com.

The Biomass Pellets Trade Asia conference covered the pellet demand in North Asia, supply outlook and government policy drivers for the use of pellets-- particularly in South Korea and Japan. Attendance was 130 people from Korea, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, China, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Canada, and the US.

During the trip, Kukkonen met with pellet equipment manufacturers and with potential customers from Korea, Japan and Europe and with potential pellet production partners in several countries.

Kukkonen noted that the price for wood pellets delivered in Europe is $186 per metric ton. The conclusions from his presentation are given below:

• Global pellet demand is rising quickly from 16M metric tons/year to a projected 46M tons in 2020
• Wood pellets are the best technical alternative to coal but wood pellet supply is limited
• Sustainability requirements mean that rain forests should not be cut down in order to make wood pellets
• When the global economy recovers, the demand for wood waste for construction materials will increase, and wood pellet prices will rise
• As pellet demand increases, agricultural pellets, especially pellets from dedicated, sustainably grown energy crops will be in great demand
• Long-term contracts for pellets made from dedicated energy crop pellets will be attractive for customers
• Giant King Grass pellets will be the lowest cost  because of high yield, year round production and simple logistics due to co-location of the plantation and pellet mill
• VIASPACE and JV partner are developing a 400,000 mt/y Giant King Grass plantation and pellet mill in Dominican Republic for European market
• VIASPACE is examining opportunities to grow & pelletize Giant King Grass in Southeast Asia for the Asian market

Previously VIASPACE provided test results of Giant King Grass energy pellets by the Korea Forest Research Institute (KFRI) which conducts pellet testing and is developing pellet standards for Korea.  KFRI determined the energy content of Giant King Grass pellets to be 4450 kilocalories per dry kilogram. This is excellent and equal to 18.6 MJ per kilogram (metric units) or 7997 BTU per pound (British units).

In 2010, the South Korean assembly approved a renewable energy bill to require 14 state-run and private power utilities to boost supplies of renewable energy starting in 2012. Korea does not have the ability to produce significant amount of pellets in their country and will depend on imports from Canada, China and Southeast Asia.

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, pellets, as a feedstock for bio methane production and cellulosic biofuels such as ethanol and butanol, and for biochemicals and bioplastics.  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 [email protected].

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, 2010, 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.