Main artery in place at EUR 800 million facility in Andøya, Northern Norway.
“The pipe is now connected to the first pool. This is a big event for the company,” announced Andfjord Salmon CEO Martin Rasmussen via the company’s site.
Andfjord Salmon aims to produce 70,000 tonnes of salmon in a closed-sea facility filled with cold, lice-free seawater. The design of the site is based on a seawater flow-through system, which it says combines the best from both traditional ocean net-pens and land-based salmon farming.
“The inlet pipe is the actual artery, which is going to be connected to the intake system. This is a huge day and a milestone for Andfjord Salmon,” said chairman Roy Pettersen.
The innermost section of the inlet pipe is 160m long. Over the next few days and weeks, the three remaining sections will be connected to the inlet pipe. The pipe will then be launched and installed. Most parts of the installation work for the outlet pipe can be done from land, and is therefore not as weather dependent as the first phase.
“Excavation of the route to, and installation of, the inlet pipe has always been among the most demanding and time-critical tasks. These have now been completed. This gives us much greater predictability regarding further work of building the world’s most fish-friendly and sustainable fish farm on land,” said Andfjord Salmon Martin Rasmussen.
Andfjord Salmon has developed a separate patent for a flow-through system, which will provide unique conditions for salmon farming on land. Without the use of energy, the pools fill themselves with seawater from a depth of 160 meters. All biomass is captured and recycled into growth products for agriculture.
