Combined wind and seaweed farm looks to pioneer offshore

North Sea Farmers proposed seaweed farm site

The company behind an ambitious seaweed farm in the North Sea says it will be the world’s first offshore facility of its kind on a commercial scale.

North Sea Farmers plans to open a seaweed farm this autumn, co-located with the Hollandse Kust Zuid (HKZ) wind farm, about 18 kilometres off the coast of Scheveningen in the North Sea.

HKZ is owned by Vattenfall, BASF, and Allianz, consists of 139 turbines. It generates electricity equivalent to the typical consumption of 1.5 million Dutch households.

North Sea Farm 1, created by North Sea Farmers with funding from Amazon’s Right Now Climate Fund, is a floating farm located between wind turbines where seaweed cultivation can be tested and improved. Scientific research will also be conducted on site into the potential of seaweed farms to capture carbon.

By locating the farm in previously empty space between turbines, the company says, the project will be able to expand seaweed cultivation in the otherwise heavily used waters of the North Sea.

There is more than enough space in the current and future planned wind farms in the North Sea, North Sea Farmers estimates, to scale up production to 1 million tons of fresh seaweed per year by 2040. This is expected to contribute to the capture and avoidance of millions of tons of CO₂.

The project will be led by North Sea Farmers (NSF) and executed by a consortium of scientific researchers and partners from the seaweed industry. The expectation is that the seaweed farm will be operational by the end of this year. The consortium hopes that North Sea Farm 1 will serve as a replicable commercial model for offshore seaweed cultivation worldwide.

North Sea Farm 1 is thus intended to be the catalyst for scaling up the seaweed sector. When complete, the farm will span five hectares, and is expected to produce at least 6,000 kg of fresh seaweed in the first year. This seaweed will be processed into inspiring applications for Europe.

Eef Brouwers, General Manager of North Sea Farmers, said: “We are particularly pleased to receive the world’s first permit for a seaweed farm within a wind farm. Hollandse Kust Zuid is one of the newest wind farms in the North Sea and at the same time relatively close to the coast, about two hours sailing. We hope that, with this project, people will become further convinced of the scaling opportunities of seaweed in the North Sea, but also of other forms of co-use such as solar, wave energy, and nature restoration.”

The scientific consortium includes researchers from Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PLM), Deltares, and Silvestrum Climate Associates, seaweed extract manufacturer Algaia, project developer Simply Blue Group, and maritime contractors Van Oord and Doggerland Offshore.