Viaspace Inks 25yr Biomass PPA

[background=rgb(0, 128, 1) !important]03/07/2013[/background] Viaspace has clinched a 25-year power purchase agreement with Tibbar Energy for the output of its planned Giant King Grass biomass project in the Virgin Islands. The deal was approved by the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority Governing Board and will see Tibbar sell the utility 7MW of base load power from the anaerobic digestion facility on St Croix. Tibbar chief executive Tania Tomyn said: “We look forward to supplying renewable energy at a lower cost to the people and businesses of St Croix.” Tibbar will grow Giant King Grass, a non-invasive, USDA-approved agricultural energy crop on 1500 acres then feed it into the facility to create biogas, which is fed into generators. The project will be built and generating power by June 2015, as required by the PPA with WAPA, Tomyn added. Tibbar Energy is working with Layne Heavy Civil, one of North America’s largest waste water treatment engineering, construction and procurement contractors. Viaspace chief executive Dr Carl Kukkonen said: “Our congratulations go to Tibbar. You hear a lot about solar and wind energy and they have a significant role to play. But solar and wind are intermittent energy and can only play a marginal role because there is no way to store electricity on a large scale. Tibbar’s project is base load power and integral to the islands grid.” Image: the plant will create biogas using Giant King Grass (Viaspace) Taylor Scott International