Simply Blue Group, an Irish company, has announced that it has joined the consortium of the North Sea Farm 1 (NSF1) project, which aims to establish the world’s first commercial-scale algae farm on an offshore wind farm.
Located in the waters of the North Sea off the Dutch coast, the 10+ hectare marine farm project is scheduled to start operations in the fall of 2024. With the planting of the algae, and the harvesting of the first crop is anticipated in early spring 2025.
First commercial scale algae cultivation
The development of the project is in the hands of a consortium, which includes researchers and industrial entities from the algae sector, led by the non-profit organization North Sea Farmers (NSF), together with the collaboration of Van Oord and Algaia in the NSF1 project.
With financial support from Amazon’s Right Now Climate Fund, the group aims to contribute to climate action efforts in Europe by exploiting the vast potential of seaweed farming.
Eef Brouwers, North Sea Farm 1 project manager, highlights the importance of the collaboration with Simply Blue Group, because of their expertise in aquaculture and wind energy, as crucial elements for the success of growing algae in a wind farm environment for the first time. Brouwers underlined the project’s objective of boosting the seaweed industry in this new energy landscape.
The key role of marine algae
Like terrestrial forests, algae play an essential role in absorbing pollutants such as nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon dioxide, while releasing oxygen, contributing to the fight against climate change and ocean acidification. In addition, they generate high-value biomass, applicable in a variety of fields, from pharmaceuticals to food and fertilizer production, according to Simply Blue Group.
Hugh Kelly, co-founder and CEO of Simply Blue Group stated the importance of seaweed cultivation as a tool to address climate change and ocean preservation. Kelly expressed the view that, eventually, the wind farms would wind farms will serve multiple purposes, including algae production, marking with this project a step towards such a future.
Don’t miss any of our posts and follow us on social media!
Inspenet.com YouTube LinkedIn Facebook Instagram
Source: Simply Blue Group
Photo: Shutterstock
Loading...
