Seaweed can contribute to biodiversity and climate-friendly foods
Placing the project at Anholt Offshore Wind Farm, which has delivered renewable electricity for a decade, is far from coincidental.
Ingrid Reumert, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Stakeholder Relations at Ørsted, says: “We’ll be constructing a lot of offshore wind farms over the next several years. If we can use the same areas at sea which are already being used to generate renewable energy to produce new, climate-friendly foods such as seaweed and mussels while simultaneously protecting the marine environment, we can really make a difference.”
Seaweed and mussels as climate-friendly foods
As part of the ULTFARMS project, researchers from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) are currently busy putting out lines of up to 100 metres – in sometimes very windy conditions – in the water around the 111 wind turbines that make up Anholt Offshore Wind Farm. The researchers attach seedlings to the lines to cultivate three different types of seaweed which can be used for human consumption. Next spring, the plan is to start the cultivation of blue mussels by supplementing the seaweed with material that mussel larvae in the seawater can settle on. Common to both seaweed and the blue mussel is that producing them requires very little energy, and they are therefore particularly suitable as foods of the future.
Jens Kjerulf Petersen, professor at DTU, says: “Seaweed is a plant that absorbs carbon dioxide directly, while cultivating mussels requires very little energy – they feed on what’s already in the sea, which is why they’ve been selected for this project. The area around Anholt has been chosen because the water has the right salinity for cultivating mussels and seaweed.”
Investors take responsibility for both renewable electricity and the marine environment
Anholt Offshore Wind Farm is owned by three partners: Ørsted, PensionDanmark, and PKA. The new innovation project seeks to take responsibility for the marine environment while also finding new ways to produce more climate-friendly foods. The hope is that projects like these will show that it is possible to integrate the marine environment into the design of renewable energy projects early on, thereby enabling faster administrative processes and consenting times for a sustainable build-out of offshore wind.
Jan Kæraa Rasmussen, Head of ESG & Sustainability at PensionDanmark, says: "Offshore wind is a key to a green Europe independent of Russian gas, and we need to build at a scale never seen before. At the same time, the marine environment in Denmark is under pressure, and it therefore makes sense for us as responsible investors to engage in projects that investigate how we can ensure a build-out of renewable energy that isn’t only climate-friendly but also nature-friendly. And with this project, we'll add a new dimension to the narrative about Anholt Offshore Wind Farm as an innovation hub – both for large-scale offshore wind deployment and for a future healthy and vibrant marine environment around Denmark."
Jon Johnsen, CEO of PKA, says: "Denmark is an international leader in offshore wind, and now we can also be the first to take the next steps and show that offshore wind can deliver not only renewable electricity but also climate-friendly foods and a more flourishing marine environment. If the project is successful, we can use it to inspire offshore wind players globally so that it sets a leading example for the build-out of much more offshore wind around the world in the years to come."
Anholt Offshore Wind Farm – ten years of green energy, innovation, and sustainability
In addition to producing renewable energy corresponding to the annual power consumption of one million Danes, Anholt Offshore Wind Farm has played a role in several innovative and sustainable projects since it was inaugurated by HM Queen Margrethe II and HRH The Prince Consort ten years ago:
In spring 2024, DTU will start harvesting seaweed to determine whether ecological and economically sustainable cultivation of seaweed is possible in the water around the offshore wind turbines at Anholt.
About Anholt Offshore Wind Farm
About seaweed and blue mussels as sources of food
The cultivation of mussels and seaweed has a lower impact on the environment – and particularly the climate – than land-based agriculture, and they contain both healthy proteins and other nutrients. In addition, many fish stocks around the world are overfished, so to replace these stocks, we need new sources of food.
The following species of seaweed and mussel will be cultivated at Anholt Offshore Wind Farm:
Read more about Anholt Offshore Wind Farm here:
(https://orsted.com/en/media/newsroom/news/2014/09/anholt-offshore-wind-farm-reaches-milestone).
About ULTFARMS
The ULTFARMS project at Anholt is part of a larger EU-funded project which aims to optimise the production of foods under harsh offshore conditions and to establish a profitable, sustainable, and ecological production chain at offshore wind farms located in the North Sea and Baltic Sea.
Read more here.
For further information, please contact:
Ørsted Asia-Pacific Media Relations
Rachel Chan
racch@orsted.com
+886 933 529 367