Hybrid power supplier wins big Mowi Chile contract
Aquaculture hybrid power specialist Fjord Maritime has signed a contract with Mowi Chile to supply a series of hybrid systems for the salmon farmer’s barges.
The new systems, which store surplus power from diesel generators in battery banks, will enable Mowi to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by hundreds of tonnes per farm, and reduce fuel consumption by 50% on each barge.
Steve Burns, managing director for Fjord Maritime’s operations in Chile and the UK, said: “It is an honour for Fjord Maritime Chile to be chosen to partner with Mowi Chile in its continued drive for sustainability.”
Stable power supply
Fjord Maritime Chile, which has contracts to deliver its technology to several major producers in Chile, said its state-of-the-art systems will modernise Mowi’s barges, adding additional redundancy and a stable and secure power supply.
Mowi Chile will also be able to use the large amount of data collected through the Fjord Control monitoring platform to further optimise energy consumption and biomass production more sustainably.
Bergen-based Fjord Maritime has supplied more than 100 hybrid systems for barges in Norway and has also sold hybrid systems to salmon farmers in Scotland and Canada and has an office in Fort William. The company supplies equipment for newbuild barges and for retrofitting.
Fuel savings
A new 200-tonne-capacity Gael Force SeaMate feed barge fitted with a Fjord Hybrid system was supplied to Cooke Aquaculture Scotland in April 2022 for use at its Mill Bay site off Stronsay.
After achieving fuel savings of 57%, Cooke ordered a retrofit Fjord Hybrid unit for a feed barge for its Vestness certified organic site off Papa Westray in Orkney.
Mowi, the world’s biggest Atlantic salmon farmer, has been ranked the world’s most sustainable animal protein producer by the Coller FAIRR Protein Producer Index for four years in a row. The company has committed to reducing its total (Scope 1,2 and 3) greenhouse gas emissions by 35% until 2030 and 72% until 2050 (based on 2016 levels for Scope 1 and 2, and 2018 levels for Scope 3).
Scope 1 emissions include direct emissions from a company’s owned or controlled sources; Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from purchased energy; Scope 3 emissions are indirect value chain emissions, such as those emitted by the production of bought-in feed or, in Mowi’s case as a feed producer, feed ingredients. Scope 3 also relates to indirect emissions related to sold goods after they leave a company’s control.
Electric vehicles
The measures Mowi has identified to reduce emissions in its farming business including switching from diesel to onshore electrical power supply wherever possible, supporting research on the use of renewable energies at exposed sites, and use of hybrid-power barges.
In Scotland, Mowi is converting its fleet of around 130 cars, vans, and pick-ups to either full electric or electric hybrid vehicles.
In its feed business, Mowi’s plan includes prioritising feed raw materials that reduce the group’s GHG emissions without reducing fish performance and welfare, and investing in R&D to test emerging feed raw materials where a low carbon footprint is a key factor for success.
