Protecting fish from the birds

One of the biggest problems facing a fish farm is how to prevent predatory birds from feeding on the fish. Loud noises and flashing lights are two methods of prevention. A more innovative one is a roof-top photovoltaic plant that protects the fish and earns the farm revenues.

Seen from the air – through the eyes of a bird - an expanse of water means fish, and fish means food. Birds can dive from the air, attack from the surface, or wade through the shallows. Whatever their method of approach, they go to the water to dine.

For a fish farm, predatory birds are a pest. They kill and damage the farm’s fish stocks. The fish have to be protected. Perhaps the most effective way to do this is to camouflage the water with a structure – like a photovoltaic power plant.

This is precisely what ABB has done at the Mézos fish farm in southwestern France. The PV plant is owned by Soleil des Landes, a special purpose company, which sells the power to the grid operator, while providing the fish farm with the protection it needs from predatory birds. It also provides the farm with revenues from renting the space above the water to Soleil des Landes. ABB provided a complete balance of system solution, including design, engineering, project management, installation and commissioning. The solution comprises all the electrical and automation equipment - inverters, DC and AC cabinets, transformers, switchgear, cabling, equipment housing, control and SCADA with remote access - as well as system optimization to ensure a high yield from the challenging surface dimensions of the water. ABB was also responsible for providing a substation that is engineered to meet the grid requirements of the medium voltage transmission system.

Rapid project execution was a key customer requirement to ensure qualification for a higher feed-in tariff that was then available for roof-top PV plants. ABB was awarded the order in June 2011, began site work in the same month, and commissioned the plant and the substation in October.

The farm is owned by Viviers de France, one of the country’s leading seafood and land-based fish farming companies. Soleil des Landes is part of Groupe UNITe.