Riverfort Regulatory News (RGO)

24 Jul 2009 09:39

Viridas plc ("Viridas")

Viridas is pleased to announce a change of name for its German subsidiary to Viridas GmbH. It is intended that Viridas GmbH will provide Viridas with a platform in Germany for the sale of crude jatropha oil and jatropha biomass into the largest biodiesel and power generating market in Europe.

In the UK, Viridas is in discussions with three leading UK Power Generation Companies regarding a potential strategic jatropha biomass development and off take agreement.

Biomass for power generation is a co-product of the jatropha oil production process, five tonnes of biomass being produced for each tonne of oil. 

As announced at the AGM on 30 June 2009, Viridas remains optimistic about the prospects of securing funding for stage three of its jatropha project.

Notes to Editors:

Recent UK legislation set out fiscal incentives and penalties for the electricity generating industry regarding the use of sustainable biomass. Historically one of the main barriers to widespread use of biomass for power generation has been the absence of reliable feedstock availability, both quantity and quality. Viridas's large production of biomass as a co-product from its jatropha oil production is therefore very attractive to power generators who wish to have an assured supply of feedstock before committing to the building of large dedicated biomass generating plants.