Today before the opening bell, VIASPACE announced that the St. Croix Public Services Commission (PSC) earlier this week voted to approve Tibbar Energy's facility design for a 6MW anaerobic generator that uses VIASPACE's proprietary Giant King(TM) Grass as the source of continuously renewable green energy fuel.
The local "St. Croix Source" publication reported the following:
"A plan to grow 1,500 acres of hybrid Giant King Grass on St. Croix and convert it to bio-fuel for generating electricity took a step forward Tuesday night when the Public Services Commission approved Tibbar Energy USVI's application for facility design.
By a vote of 4-0 with two absent, the PSC approved the application at its monthly meeting on St. Thomas with St. Croix commissioners Sirri Hamad and Joseph San Martin joining newly elected Commission Chairman M. Thomas Jackson and Vice-Chairwoman Elsie V. Thomas-Turton via teleconference to form a quorum.
Tibbar Energy owner Tanya Coleman and legal counsel Kevin A. Rames presented an overview of the company and adding that Giant King Grass is a fast-growing, high yield grass that is neither genetically modified nor invasive.
The Tibbar representatives told the commission the grass does not compete with other crops, is similar to sugar cane and uses a high-nutrient fertilizer water which will not deplete the soil. Farmers will be provided with free fertilizer.
Tibbar plans to create 40 new jobs in the project, they said, and hopes to harvest 500 to 600 tons a day, running the grass through an anaerobic generator which can produce up to seven kilowatts per hour. Tibbar is pursuing a contractual rate with the Water and Power Authority, Coleman said, adding that Tibbar 'can begin to provide power by Jan. 1, 2014.' "
Dr. Kevin Schewe, VIASPACE's Chairman, said, "We are certainly pleased to report that our partnership with Tibbar Energy to fuel a clean-energy 6MW anaerobic power plant with Giant King Grass on St. Croix is progressing on schedule. Our business model is to collect regular, predictable license fees as Giant King Grass is harvested by our customers over the life of their projects, and in this case, over a 20 year time frame."
"In this 1,500 acre project using high-yielding Giant King Grass, we hope to harvest 500-600 tons of Giant King Grass per day and the harvesting is scheduled to begin in St. Croix in 2013," he continued. "We are actively engaged in significantly larger acreage projects and in projects that we expect to serve as co-developer of the power plant where, in addition to our license fees, we could also generate recurring revenue from the sale of local electricity. We are genuinely excited about the pace and extent of our corporate progress as we head into 2013."
For more information on VIASPACE and its Giant King Grass, visit viaspace.com
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