VIASPACE Completes Design And Engineering For Giant King® Grass Biogas Power Plant In Papua New Guinea

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Jul 28, 2015, 07:00 ET

WALNUT, Calif., July 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- VIASPACE Inc. (OTC: VSPC) announced that it has completed the engineering and design work for a 2 MW biogas power plant in Papua New Guinea for Clean Energy Solutions Pacific (CES). Clean Energy Solutions, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, is an independent power producer focused on developing power for frontier and emerging markets. CES has extensive experience in project development and management, engineering and construction of power plants.

The CES project located in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is to own and operate a biogas power plant and Giant King Grass plantation that delivers reliable, 24/7 electricity to the grid to meet the customer demand profile, under a power purchase agreement from the government electricity company.

The biogas power plant was designed by VIASPACE to meet the daily load profile for the utility customer in Papua New Guinea. The load profile and the comparison of peak load to average load determined the size of the digesters, the amount of biogas storage and the number and size of the engine generators. This information plus the biogas production from Giant King Grass determined the size of the Giant King Grass plantation needed to provide 100% of the power.

The scope of biogas power plant engineering and design work included:

Giant King Grass feeding system
hydrolysis system
primary and secondary digesters
biogas and substrate piping specifications
biogas treatment
biogas storage
engine/generator sets
monitoring and controls
transformer substation
digestate handling
trench silos
internal energy consumption
operations and maintenance
construction and operating costs

Since the power plant will be located in a remote area, careful consideration was given to a straightforward and proven design with low maintenance and ready availability of spare parts. The engine generators, electronics and control system, pumps and gas cleanup system will be integrated into 40 foot container modules which will be assembled and tested before shipment to Papua New Guinea.

The VIASPACE report to CES included a detailed parts list of all major equipment with vendors identified and multiple quotations for each piece of equipment sourced from the United States and Europe.

CES Chief Operations Officer McCabe Cox reports, "Clean Energy Solutions Pacific is very pleased with the work completed by VIASPACE Inc. and found it to be extremely thorough and professional. Clean Energy Solutions Pacific plans on using VIASPACE Inc. for additional engineering work on the Papua New Guinea Project as well as its other biomass power projects due to the excellent quality of work provided under this project."

Cox continued, "Our biogas power plant will provide badly needed base load power for a remote area in Papua New Guinea. It is a clean and renewable alternative to oil-based electricity, and the power plant and Giant King Grass plantation provide needed jobs."

VIASPACE Chief Technology Officer Dr. Carl Kukkonen stated, "VIASPACE is proud of the engineering and design work we have performed for CES. We can provide complete turnkey solutions to customers including the Giant King Grass plantation and the power plant-- both for smaller applications of 1 to 3 MW using anaerobic digestion, and larger power plants similar to our project in Nicaragua which can be scaled from its current 12.3 MW down to 10 MW and up to 35 MW."

VIASPACE Chairman, Dr. Kevin Schewe, commented, "CES standards mandate that each of their power plant projects create a formula for success that makes both economic and environmental sense. VIASPACE shares this philosophy and we are very pleased to have worked effectively with CES for the design and engineering of the 2 MW PNG project. We look forward to working with CES on this project and other biomass power plant projects in the future."

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 5 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, Hawaii, St. Croix Virgin Islands, Nicaragua, South Africa, China, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines and Guyana. For more information, please go to www.VIASPACE.com or contact Dr. Jan Vandersande, Director of Communications, at 800-517-8050 or [email protected].

About Clean Energy Solutions Pacific

CES is an energy development company which specializes in all aspects of energy development. Members of CES have a combined work experience of over 110 years and have been involved in over $20 billion worth of energy development projects as a combined group. Members of the CES team are known as some of the best experts in their related fields and have impressive track records in developing energy resources. CES development work includes environmental permitting, civil engineering, project management, power purchase agreements and project finance. Further information is available on the CES website at http://www.cespacific.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, 2014, and other factors over which VIASPACE has little or no control.

SOURCE VIASPACE Inc.