Chinese company to site fish farm in base of wind turbine
A Chinese company, Mingyang Smart Energy, recently reported that it has begun making a wind turbine jacket foundation (base) that will incorporate an offshore fish farm.
The farm, according to the company, will be typhoon-resistant and will have an intelligent aquaculture system with remote functions such as automated feeding, monitoring, detection, and harvesting.
The turbine jacket/fish farm will be attached to one of the MySE 11.0-230 turbines planned for the Mingyang Qingzhou 4 offshore wind farm, around 62km off the coast of Yangjiang, Guangdong, China. The installation will take place later this year, and the goal is to produce 150,000 fish in a 5,000m³ cage.
A game-changer
“By promoting efficient use of the sea, along with offshore wind and hydrogen production, this system is truly a game-changer. And the best part? The high-quality fish raised in this system are comparable to wild fish and are less impacted by nearshore marine pollution,” said Mingyang in a social media post.
The company also believes that the innovative project will be able to address concerns about potential area conflicts between future offshore aquaculture and wind farms.
The idea of siting fish farms within turbine jackets is not a new one, but this may be the first time it has been put into practice.
Mingyang employs 10,000 people and has produced wind turbines installed in 700+ global wind farms that have a combined output of 40 gigawatts (GW). According to the US office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, a gigawatt is enough to power 100 million LED lightbulbs, or 9,090 Nissan Leaf electric cars.
