New Maine-based private development and investment company Xcelerate Aqua is working on a 10,000-MT land-based salmon farm in the East Coast.
The new RAS company is being developed by Xcelerate Aqua co-founders Erik Heim and Marianne Naess, but it will be a C Corporation and will operate under a different name.
“The companies to be announced (including this first RAS farm) have been created by Xcelerate – that’s what we do – build businesses,” Heim told SalmonBusiness.
The RAS project in the East Coast, the company said, is “carefully configured to move swiftly forward at lower risk and investment levels in the segment.” It is already in the final stages of due diligence and multiple permits are in place, it said.
The project will be developed in two phases of 5,000 MT, with an ultimate capacity of 10,000 MT.
It is described as a “moderate scale” in order to reduce its complexity, risk, and investment levels. Cost-saving measures were also adopted, including the acquisition of a pre- excavated site that also has all connecting infrastructure in place.
They have not disclosed the specific city or town where it will be built, but they said it offers extensive economic incentives.
The couple were behind Nordic Aquafarms in Maine, which they left this past July. They said this new venture leverages their “deep industry insight and decades of executive management experience to create companies that reduce the time-to-market, risks, and investment thresholds for investors in aquaculture.”
