The German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) have signed an agreement with other partners to carry out a project that will install solar photovoltaics panels on aquaculture farms in Vietnam.
The “Solar-Aquaculture Habitats as Resource-Efficient and Integrated Multilayer Production Systems” (SHRIMPS) project will install solar modules on pilot shrimp plants in the Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu, the MOIT-GIZ Energy Support Program announced earlier this month.
The statement did not provide the name of the shrimp company. However, the ISE said in August last year that it was evaluating the technical and commercial feasibility for implementing the pilot project on a farm owned by Viet Uc Seafood.
A representative from Viet Uc confirmed to SeafoodSource last week GIZ and ISE are in discussion with the company for the pilot installations, but that talks have been suspended since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year.
The SHRIMPS project, which is funded by German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and is scheduled to last until 2022, aims to promote dual land-use in aquaculture farms as well as lower freshwater consumption and wastewater and carbon emissions. It also helps keep favorable water temperature for shrimp farming and advance working conditions for workers at the farms.
“The project offers a practical solution to double the use of land to produce both food and energy in Vietnam and helps to achieve greater resilience of local farms to climate change impacts,” project director Tobias Cossen said.
Cossen added that following the pilot project, the technology will be passed on to aquaculture companies in other localities in Vietnam and to other countries in Southeast Asia.
The project is part of Germany’s efforts to help Vietnam increase use of renewable energy, reduce carbon emissions, and protect the environment.
The Vietnam-based participants in the project are Ho Chi Minh City’s Nong Lam University, the Vietnamese Institute of Energy, and the Bac Lieu Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Photo courtesy of Toan Dao/SeafoodSource
