PensionDanmark has begun a new biodiversity research project at its Anholt Offshore Wind Farm, which will see a range of climate-friendly foods grown to contribute to a better marine environment.

The wind farm is co-owned by PensionDanmark, Ørsted and PKA. The new innovation project is an attempt to take responsibility for the marine environment and at the same time find new ways to grow more climate-friendly food.

The hope is that such projects will show that renewable energy and the marine environment can be thought of together from the start. In turn, PensionDanmark hopes that this will lead to faster approvals for the sustainable development of offshore wind.

Commenting, PensionDanmark head of ESG and sustainability, Jan Kæraa Rasmussen, said: "Offshore wind is key to a green Europe that is independent of Russian gas, and there is a need for us to build on a scale that has never been seen before.

“At the same time, the Danish marine environment is under pressure, and therefore it is obvious that we, as responsible investors, get involved in projects that investigate the possibilities for the expansion of climate-friendly energy to also become nature-friendly. And with this project, we add a new dimension to the history of Anholt Offshore Wind Farm as an innovation hub - both for offshore wind on a large scale and for a future healthy and living sea around Denmark."

As part of the project, known as ULTFARMS, researchers from DTU are currently setting lines up to 100m long underwater around the 111 wind turbines in the Anholt Sea Wind Farm. Along these lines, the researchers are sowing three different types of seaweed that can be eaten and used as food for humans.

In the spring, the plan is to supplement the seaweed with material that mussel larvae from the seawater can settle on, and thus start a production of blue mussels. What both seaweed and mussels have in common is that they require very little energy to produce them, and therefore they are suitable to become the food of the future.

DTU professor, Jens Kjerulf Petersen, said: "Seaweed is a plant that absorbs CO2 directly, while mussels require very little energy to grow - they feed on what is already in the sea, which is why they were selected for this project. The area around Anholt itself was chosen because the water here has the right salinity to grow mussels and seaweed.”

Share Story: