The project is led by North Sea Farmers (NSF) and executed by a consortium of scientific researchers and partners from the seaweed industry
The world’s first commercial-scale seaweed farm will open within the wind farm ‘Hollandse Kust Zuid’ (HKZ), located about 18 kilometres off the coast of Scheveningen in the North Sea. 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 the previous space between turbines, the project can expand seaweed cultivation in the otherwise heavily used North Sea. There is more than enough space in the current and future planned wind farms in the North Sea to scale up production to 1 million tonnes of fresh seaweed per year by 2040. This is expected to contribute to the capture and avoidance of millions of tonnes of CO2.
The project is 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 5 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.
