Beneath offshore wind turbines, researchers grow seafood and seaweed
Researchers are exploring multiple uses for wind parks far out at sea, such as producing fresh seafood
KRIEGERS FLAK OFFSHORE WIND FARM, Denmark (AP) — In a small boat bobbing in the waves between towering offshore wind turbines, researchers in Europe’s Baltic Sea reach into the frigid water and remove long lines stretched between the pylons onto which mussels and seaweed are growing.
It’s part of efforts to explore multiple uses for remote wind parks far out at sea, such as fresh seafood production.
Run by the Swedish state-owned power firm Vattenfall and Denmark’s Aarhus University, the four-year project started in 2023 off the Danish east coast at Scandinavia’s largest wind farm, Kriegers Flak. With its first harvest just 18 months later, it's already showing signs of early success.
“There’s an increasing competition for space on land and in the sea," said Aarhus University senior scientist Annette Bruhn, who leads the project. “We can, in one area, produce both fossil-free energy and food for a growing population.”
