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The rise of the offshore wind business has sparked a brand new motion to piggyback different maritime actions onto offshore wind farms. This multi-use method might assist defray the price of setting up wind farms, serving to to speed up the tempo of the power transition. Within the newest improvement, a brand new wind farm that includes distinctive two-headed floating wind generators has been tapped to host a industrial fish farm.
Fish Farms Meet Floating Wind Generators
The brand new multi-use mission comes beneath the umbrella of the Swedish startup Hexicon, which can be acquainted to CleanTechnica readers for its signature two-headed floating generators. The thought of parking two generators on one floating platform appeared a bit loopy when it first got here throughout our radar, however Hexicon has already assembled a portfolio of floating wind tasks beneath its belt, together with a large 7.1 gigawatt wind farm deliberate for Italy.
Hexicon has additionally put down stakes within the Freja Offshore three way partnership, which has an curiosity in 4 offshore wind farms in Swedish waters. The brand new fish farm pilot mission will happen on the proposed Mareld wind farm, situated 40 kilometers off the coast of Lysekil within the North Sea.
The Norwegian aquaculture agency Subfarm has been recruited for the mission, together with participation from the Lysekil Municipality and Norway’s Blue Maritime industrial group.
Hexicon additionally states that the analysis institute DHI can also be concerned. That would imply any variety of organizations with DHI of their names, however we’re guessing they imply DHI Group, a Danish agency that focuses on onshore and offshore water methods knowledge, modeling, and machine studying.
Higher Collectively, NATO Version
As the brand new child on the block, the offshore wind business has been tiptoeing across the international fishing business. Nonetheless, contemplating that each one the fish will die except the worldwide economic system decarbonizes, a multi-use method to offshore wind improvement might assist forge new alliances between industries.
“The area Västra Götaland must triple its electrical energy manufacturing within the coming years to satisfy the power wants and offshore wind will play a key function,” Hexicon notes.
“On the identical time, wind energy should have the ability to coexist with different vital pursuits, not least the fishing business and sea-based meals manufacturing,” they emphasize.
“Seafood and offshore wind energy are two industries that Sweden will want extra of sooner or later, not least to strengthen preparedness. That’s the reason we wish to discover methods to mix these two items,” Freja Offshore CEO Magnus Hallman added in a press assertion.
You possibly can say that once more. Russia has been rattling the saber at NATO nations in Europe ever because it — the North Atlantic Treaty Group — was a twinkle within the eye of its founders. Sweden was late to the NATO occasion, however in consideration of Russia’s full-on conflict towards Ukraine, “preparedness” has taken on an entire new which means for Sweden. The nation formally joined NATO virtually simply this minute (see extra CleanTechnica protection of Ukraine right here).
Fish Farmers Are Tapping Into New Offshore Wind Alternatives
Offshore wind builders are already starting to combine offshore fish farms into their plans in China and different elements of the world, so it’s not troublesome to see why Hexicon would enterprise into the sector.
“Earlier research present that offshore wind farms can act as synthetic reefs and marine protected areas. This will increase the quantity of fish and shellfish and, in flip, the supply of prey. On the identical time, bigger fishing vessels can’t move by the wind farm. Nonetheless, there are good alternatives for fish farming,” Hexicon notes.
On its half, Subfarm has additionally noticed a chance. The corporate’s submersible cage system will be deployed inside offshore wind arrays, and the corporate emphasizes some great benefits of its system in comparison with the frames utilized in standard offshore fish farms.
“The benefit of utilizing a submersible cage in comparison with conventional floating frames is to considerably lower the danger of biomass loss and, consequently, the potential for top financial loss,” Subfarm explains. The corporate additionally takes observe of current research indicating that deep net-based fish farms provide higher safety towards sea lice and algae blooms, a bonus that extends to submerisible cages.
As described by Hexigon, the Mareld offshore wind multi-use mission will contain inserting the fish farm cages between the wind turbine platforms. They are going to be held in place by their very own anchoring methods, as a substitute of counting on the floating wind platform cables.
“The fish packing containers shall be lowered to a depth of fifty–70 meters and hoisted as much as the floor for checks and harvesting. They’re then transported by ship to land,” Hexicon provides.
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Extra & Higher Aquaculture With Offshore Wind Energy
The multi-use pattern was entrance and heart final fall, when CleanTechnica attended the 2023 Ocean Vitality Europe convention at The Hague. Till now, although, a lot of the exercise has centered round piggybacking different power sources onto offshore wind farms, together with floating photo voltaic panels, wave power converters, and inexperienced hydrogen methods.
The aquaculture angle continues to be a brand new one, however researchers are starting to make the case for kickstarting the motion. Other than fish, the wind-plus-aquaculture mashup might embody seaweed and mussels.
“Multi-use of offshore wind farms with low-trophic aquaculture might present sustainable power, nutritious seafood, and restorative ecosystem companies by vitamins and carbon seize and utilization,” a analysis group based mostly in Denmark just lately reported, based mostly on a modeling research of the transition zone between the North and Baltic seas.
“Whole carbon captured and harvested from seaweed biomass and mussel shells would equal 40% of the carbon dioxide emissions from the Danish agricultural sector,” the group famous.
“Moreover, international aquaculture manufacturing is projected to extend by 132% in comparison with present manufacturing,” they added. “With technological and regulatory challenges nonetheless to be addressed, these findings reveal an unlimited potential of multi-use in offshore areas, which may generate blue biomass with fewer person conflicts, whereas mitigating eutrophication and local weather change, thereby supporting a number of international sustainable improvement objectives.”
What About The Baltic Sea?
In case your ears pricked up when the analysis group talked about the Baltic Sea, be part of the membership. Now that Sweden has joined NATO, Russia is nearly fully boxed out of the Baltic Sea shoreline by NATO members. Russia has simply two slim fingers of entry, at St. Petersburg and at Kaliningrad.
Slender as they’re, Russia might leverage these two entry factors to partake within the burst of offshore wind exercise stirring within the Baltic Sea. Clearly that’s not going to occur. Different issues might occur, contemplating that Kaliningrad is the house base of Russia’s Baltic Fleet.
In case you have any ideas about that, drop us a observe within the remark thread (see extra Baltic offshore wind information right here).
Comply with me @tinamcasey on Bluesky, Threads, Put up, and LinkedIn.
Picture: A brand new offshore wind farm will host an aquaculture pilot mission, that includes Hexicon’s two-headed floating generators.
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