Feb. 4, 2011, Vancouver – Vancouver-based
Viridis Energy Inc. is launching its strategy for international biomass
distribution and manufacturing. The company’s focus is currently on Europe and
Asia, with primary targets of South Korea and China, where demand for renewable
energy is increasing rapidly. Viridis intends to increase its manufacturing
capacity in woody biomass to meet the demand in European and Asian countries
that look to Canada for traditional biomass. The increase in capacity is
expected to be through U.S. expansion, allowing the company to limit its
exposure to currency fluctuations and take advantage of U.S. government
subsidies. It has already targeted this further acquisition.
In addition, Viridis will diversify its
traditional biomass supply into agricultural biomass to address the Asian
volume demand that exceeds the available wood pellet supply. Countries such as
China and South Korea are test co-firing biomass with coal to prepare for
mandated greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The estimated consumption for
industrial use in South Korea alone is eventually expected to exceed 10 million
tons/year of biomass.
Viridis is at the early stages of arranging
to test biomass in China and South Korea. In December 2010, it entered into an
agreement to acquire rights in the patented biomass additive, which acquisition
is pending completion. “Our recently announced patented biomass additive is a
vital component for the use of high-alkali biomass in existing coal boilers.
This saves coal producers significant time and eliminates the need for costly
capital projects to retrofit or replace the boilers to utilize biomass,” says
Christopher Robertson, CEO of Viridis.
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