Offshore staff
CORK, Ireland — Simply Blue Group has signed a memorandum of understanding with Arctic Seaweed to investigate co-location of seaweed farms among offshore wind farm developments.
Arctic Seaweed is a Norwegian seaweed farming specialist with farms installed around Bergen, Ålesund and Greenland. Its farming method is said to deliver cost-efficient and sustainable cultivation and harvesting of seaweed with minimal impact on the environment.
There has been growing interest in Europe in seaweed as a crop that could replace resource intensive products such as meat, plastic, fossil fuels and conventional fertilizers. This is because seaweed only needs sunlight and nutrients from the ocean to grow, with no need for fertilizer or freshwater.
Simply Blue Group is seeking to develop prototype seaweed farms ahead of potentially larger scale solutions within offshore wind farms. It would mean having seeding and harvesting processes scaled to levels that allow for time-critical and safe operations offshore, the company added.
The partnership will apply Arctic Seaweed’s technology to develop a production line from direct seeding to harvesting and processing, for installation from offshore support vessels operating within wind farms.
Kim Kristensen, CEO of Arctic Seaweed, said, “From the start, Arctic Seaweed has focused on building a technology platform with the aim to industrialize seaweed cultivation, both from a hardware and an operational perspective. This strategy enables us to cater specifically for offshore wind and seaweed farm integration in various locations around the world.”
06.22.2023
