Viasapce Inc. and its subsidiary Viaspace Green Energy Inc.’s CEO Dr. Carl Kukkonen discussed the business of growing Giant King Grass, its primary uses, and potential customers with ChartPoppers.com.
The clean energy company grows Giant King Grass which can be used as a feedstock for biofuels. The non-food crop can also be used as an alternative to coal and nuclear power. Kukkonen noted that the big market for energy pellets – Giant King Grass that has been dried, ground into a powder, and squeezed into a cylinder – are found in large coal-fired electric power plants. He said, “They have billions of dollars invested in these power plants and cannot abandon this capital investment; however, many of them are required by government policy to reduce their carbon emissions.”
As the company is actively pursuing African partnerships, South Africa could be a prime location if basing its decision on coal-fired plants. Eskom is looking to reduce its carbon emissions while the South African government is attempting to incorporate more alternative/renewable energy sources into its total power generating capacity. The CEO said that many coal plants are taking out up to 20% of the coal and replacing it with biomass pellets, reducing carbon emissions by 20%.
Kukkonen said that Giant King Grass has the highest yield in terms of tons per acre compared to any crop in the world. “That means that you get more electricity or biofuels per acre than with any other crop. Higher crop yield means lower cost electricity or biofuel for producers,” he added.
He expanded on the advantages of the product including job creation for local farmers and power plant openings. He said, “A 30-MW power plant can provide electricity for up to 250,000 families in rural China or India. The country doesn’t have to spend its currency to buy foreign coal or oil and can have economic development for its population.”
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