Viaspace Giant King Grass Asian update

Mar. 14, 2012, Irvine, CA – VIASPACE Inc.,
and its subsidiary VIASPACE Green Energy Inc. have provided a business
update on recent bioenergy and pellet activities and opportunities in Asia for its proprietary dedicated energy crop Giant King Grass.

Earlier this month, the company issued a similar update on Europeand the Americas, which can be seen here.

CEO Dr. Carl Kukkonen reports "Asia represents a large potential market for Giant King Grass based bioenergy projects. On the pellet side —China
has restricted the use of coal in small boilers and this has led to a
new Chinese domestic demand for pellets. Additionally, a new law in
Korea requires the use of biomass for electricity generation and this is
leading to a market for pellets. Korean utilities and fuel traders are
actively seeking sources of biomass pellets, and are co-investing in
pellet projects. Southern China and Southeast Asia have ideal climates to grow Giant King Grass, and the transportation distances to customers in Asia are much shorter than distances to customers in Europe.
This leads to very favorable economics for pellet projects. European
pellet buyers are also active in soliciting pellet supply from Southeast
Asia.  VIASPACE is pursuing several pellet opportunities in Asia."

Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines
are actively promoting biomass power plants for electricity generation
through government initiatives and feed in tariffs. A feed in tariff is a
commitment from the government electrical grid to purchase biomass
electricity at a specific price for a specified period of time. A feed
in tariff is essentially a government guarantee to buy the electricity
and this guarantee can be used to obtain equity and debt financing for
the project.

Kukkonen traveled to Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar
in February where he met with current and potential partners for
biomass electric power plants in these countries.  Representatives from the Philippines and Malaysia flew to California
in December to meet with us.  In February, Kukkonen also met with
representatives of Seema Energy who are developing a 90 MW biomass power
plant in Thailand to be fueled by Giant King Grass.
Kukkonen also met with Owl Energy, the power consulting company that
conducted the feasibility study and developed the Request for Proposals
for Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) for the Seema Energy
project in Thailand.  Kukkonen met with one of the EPC firms to brief
them on Giant King Grass as a dedicated energy crop.

Kukkonen
continued, "In Bangkok, I met with our power plant partner DP CleanTech
to discuss the range of potential projects around the world utilizing
their exclusive boiler technology with Giant King Grass. DP CleanTech
has built 27 biomass power plants over the last six years. Their
expertise is in high-temperature high-pressure power plants using straws
such as Giant King Grass as fuel."

"I also went to Myanmar (also known as Burma) to explore future business opportunities. The US currently has sanctions against Myanmar, but things are changing quickly. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Myanmar in December and Senators John McCain and Mitch McConnell have recently traveled to Myanmar.  Pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is running for Parliament in the April 1 elections.  The US has restored diplomatic relations with Myanmar and President Obama spoke well of Burma in his State of the Union address.  If things continue to go forward, the sanctions will likely be removed and Myanmar will represent a significant business opportunity. After being closed for 50 years, Myanmar is anticipating very rapid development and electricity is an important part of their plan."

Finally, Kukkonen was invited to make a presentation at the 2nd Biomass & Pellets Update Asia Conference held in Bangkok on February 17, 2012.  Other speakers were from Poyry Management Consulting of Finland and Singapore, Vyncke Energietechniek of Belgium, and pellet equipment manufacturers–Kahl from Germany, CPM from the US, Prodesa from Spain, and Muyang from China. Dr. Kukkonen's presentation "Giant King Grass for Bioenergy and Pellets" is available on the VIASPACE website at www.VIASPACE.com.

About VIASPACE Inc.

VIASPACE
is a clean energy company providing products and technology for
renewable and alternative energy that reduce or eliminate dependence on
fossil and high-pollutant energy sources. Through its majority-owned
subsidiary VIASPACE Green Energy Inc., the Company grows Giant King Grass
as a low-carbon fuel for electricity generating power plants, for
energy pellets, as a feedstock bio methane production and cellulosic
biofuels, and for other low-carbon, renewable energy products. For more
information, please go to www.VIASPACE.com or contact Dr. Jan Vandersande, Director of Communications, at 800-517-8050 or IR@VIASPACE.com.