Norwegian outfit INC Invest says it wants to raise EUR 87.4 million to build a land-based salmon grow-out on the tiny Norwegian island of Floro, about 140 kilometers north of Bergen.
But, first they’ll build a EUR 4 million pilot project, writes newspaper Firdaposten.
Project Green Atlantic Salmon will attempt to combine a 10,000-tonnes salmon production facility on dry land with a hydrogen factory. “The waste material of hydrogen production is pure oxygen that we use directly in salmon production,” said chief financial officer, Roald Foerde, of INC Invest, adding that heat is an extra by-product of hydrogen production.
Mr. Foerde and Bjorn Lillelien of Havlandet Havbruk will tap the knowledge of Havlandet Marine Yngel, or MHY (juvenile producer known for cod). The pilot site will sit alongside HMY, and a production permit for salmon in the planned facility is already in place.
Foerde believes land-based salmon production can be just as cost-effective as traditional marine-pen production.
“The price of new offshore licenses is very high, but onshore licenses are free,” he said. He reckons that extra costs related to combatting sea lice at sea, together with Norway’s new restrictive “traffic light” policy for pen-array placement in a number of counties.
