One of China’s biggest energy firms is entering the aquaculture sector, as it seeks to integrate mariculture initiatives into an offshore wind farm it plans to build off the shore of Shandong Province.
China Three Gorges Corp, which built the massive Three Gorges hydroelectric plant on the Yangtze River, which entered operations in 2012, has sought to capitalize on an ambition by the Shandong government to integrate offshore aquaculture into the province’s wind farms. The state-owned firm, which has submitted a bid in a government tender for a major combined wind power and aquaculture project, will be the latest in a line of major government-owned players to enter the offshore aquaculture sector in China.
The news of a Three Gorges tender was first reported by United Kingdom-based Recharge magazine, which covers renewable energy markets. Three Gorges has invested in renewable energy projects around the world, particularly in European wind farms.
Three Gorges’ entry to the aquaculture sector brings a deep-pocketed conglomerate into a new wave of construction of capital-intensive modern offshore installations, which are favored by China’s government over small scale on-shore aquaculture. Three Gorges, which has registered assets of almost CNY 300 billion (USD 42 billion, EUR 38.3 billion), already operates wind farms in the U.K., opening up the prospect that it will ultimately take its combined fish and wind farm model to Europe.
At a government press conference in 2018 to announce the launch the Shandong Province Modern Ocean Farming Comprehensive Pilot Scheme Construction Project, several officials from China’s Agriculture Department and the provincial Ocean Affairs Bureau announced they will build 83 ocean “pastures” over 60,000 hectares – 32 of which will be “national-level.” The development pushed Shandong into the top spot in the development of such facilities in China. Several of the facilities will feature offshore wind turbines.
“We will be assessing the impact of the turbines on the fish farms and also on biodiversity in the sea,” Fu Ri Xian, deputy chief of the Ocean Affairs Bureau, said at the time. “We want to see if offshore fisheries and wind farms can co-exist.”
Construction on the combined wind and fish farms was to commence in the first half of 2019 and will be completed by 2021, according to Fu. The 83 ocean sites being installed will use technology such as big data and “remote sensors,” according to Wang Deng Qi, deputy head of the provincial agricultural ministry.
“In this way, we can improve management and efficiency,” Wang said.
Wang also pointed to “challenges” facing China’s offshore aquaculture sector, including “non-standard technology” and “low skills.”
Another project in southern China has sought to combine renewable energy with aquaculture – but in vessel form. Designed by the South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences and Tianjin Desai Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd, the “Dehai No.1” is described as China’s first semi-submersible truss floating structure. It was delivered in September 2018 to Zhuhai Xinpingmao Fishery Co., Ltd., which operates off the coast of Macao.
Photo courtesy of China Three Gorges Corp.
