Better of each worlds—new challenge makes use of offshore wind farms to develop seaweed for meals manufacturing

Vesterhav Syd, simply off the coast of Denmark, is considered one of Vattenfall’s offshore wind farms. It produces not solely fossil-free electrical energy, but in addition meals in type of seaweed. In reality, the Wind farmed Seaweed Snacks made with this seaweed are so good that Samuel L Jackson – iconic actor, former marine biology scholar and star of Vattenfall’s newest marketing campaign – describes it as “some serious gourmet sh*t”. 

Fossil-free electrical energy manufacturing requires house for photo voltaic and wind farms. How can we benefit from these areas for vitality manufacturing? This query was the start line for the WIN@sea challenge. Vattenfall’s offshore wind farms, Danish Kriegers Flak and Vesterhav Syd in Denmark, already ship fossil-free electrical energy—however may the areas contribute to one thing else as effectively? 

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More environment friendly use of house 

Annette Bruhn, a researcher at Aarhus University and an skilled on seaweed and seaweed farming, had been working for years to persuade offshore wind energy corporations in regards to the potential of mixing electrical energy manufacturing with meals manufacturing from seaweedand mussels. It wasn’t till she approached Vattenfall that she lastly succeeded.   

She and her crew have now been main the WIN@sea challenge at Danish Kriegers Flak greater than midway by its four-year lifespan – including Vesterhav Syd to the challenge final yr. For Bruhn, WIN@sea is targeted on intelligently utilising areas which can be already in use—and thus affect nature—for as many nature constructive issues as attainable, an idea referred to as `marine multi-use`.  

“Conditions for seaweed production are not necessarily ideal at all wind farms. But if you have an area at sea that’s already dedicated to some human use, it makes sense, in our opinion, to see if we can then concentrate other activities there too. In this way we can use the space more efficiently, and other areas can be protected. It’s a dual concept of limiting or concentrating human access in some areas so you can reduce human access to other areas.”

Sustainable vitality and meals on the similar website 

From a analysis perspective, wind farms can be utilized to observe the marine surroundings and acquire biodiversity information. From an environmental perspective, seaweed and mussel manufacturing will help  regenerate the encircling marine surroundings, whereas absorbing carbon dioxide and extra vitamins from the water. These are simply two potential alternatives, over and above the essential objective of manufacturing fossil-free electrical energy. 

‘If we can combine things in the right, most intelligent way, we’ll be capable to produce each fossil-free electrical energy and sustainable meals in the identical space. We may be capable to scale back carbon emissions and get monetary savings through the use of the identical vessels and the identical crew for each functions.’

Important classes for the long run 

WIN@sea has had two seaweed seasons and one mussel season, and Bruhn and the crew are beginning to see outcomes. Their work now includes analysing meals manufacturing security and development fashions and growing instruments to check the tactic extra extensively. A complete life cycle evaluation can also be being carried out to determine how the twin use of the marine house  can have essentially the most constructive affect on each the economic system and the surroundings. There might be new seaweeddeployed at Vesterhav Syd within the fall, however cultivation actions have ended at Kriegers Flak in July 2025.

One of Kriegers Flak’s explicit challenges has been the low salinity of the Baltic Sea’s brackish water, which has a unfavourable affect on mussel and seaweed development. But WIN@sea isn’t targeted on industrial manufacturing right here and now—it’s primarily a pilot challenge that can inform future initiatives. 

“We knew from the start that Kriegers Flak was not going to be an optimal place to cultivate seaweed and mussels. But it’s been really valuable to test the interactions of the multi-use sharing of infrastructure, people, and services. The results  are also valuable because they feed into a framework that enables us to identify favourable and unfavourable places to produce seafood. This helps us stop any sort of cultivationefforts in areas where it doesn’t make sense. And then we look forward to continuing the work at Vesterhav Syd, where salinity the ofthe North Sea is higher and nutrient availability is greater”. 

Perhaps an important outcome has been to show that it’s certainly attainable to mix off-shore electrical energy and meals manufacturing. 

Positive affect on marine surroundings  

Bruhn can also be noticing plenty of worldwide curiosity within the challenge. Given that new licences for offshore wind farms require proof of a constructive or at the very least impartial impact on the surroundings, initiatives like WIN@sea level to a possible means ahead. 

“Our model can show where you achieve the best yield of mussels and seaweed, and also where you have the highest uptake of nitrogen and phosphorus. This demonstrates that these types of projects can have a positive impact on the marine environment and can also help identify the ecological balance, so you knowwhat scale of mussels and seaweed production  can be established in a given area without disturbing the balance of the existing ecosystem.”