The synergy between renewable energy, mariculture and shipping emerges as a promising direction to reduce environmental concerns and optimize resource utilization. This work discusses such opportunities for combining fish farms, electrified ships, floating photovoltaic (FPV) systems, and offshore wind farms. The integration of fish farms with marine vehicles FPV and offshore wind farms represents a triple-win scenario. Firstly, the floating photovoltaic panels provide a dual-purpose function: harnessing solar energy for power generation while concurrently protecting fish farms. Such an arrangement optimizes the use of water surfaces, reducing land footprint and fostering a mutually beneficial relationship between renewable energy infrastructure and aquaculture operations. Secondly, offshore wind farms complement this integration by providing an additional renewable energy source. The open sea locations of wind farms can be strategically chosen to minimize interference with fish farming activities, ensuring sustainable coexistence. The economic viability of such a cooperative model is underscored by the potential for shared infrastructure and reduced operational costs, while co-located facilities can benefit from streamlined logistics, shared maintenance resources, and land and sea use, fostering a more sustainable and cost-effective approach to both energy production and aquaculture. Moreover, the energy excess could be used to charge electric marine vehicles leading to substantial environmental implications. The energy planning of this collaborative system is simulated by means of EnergyPLAN software developed and maintained by the Sustainable Energy Planning Research Group at Aalborg University, Denmark . Although, developed for land-based systems, the tool can be successfully used for number of marine applications, as indicated in some similar application cases [1,2].
[1] [Lovro Frković, Boris Ćosić, Tomislav Pukšec, Nikola Vladimir: Offshore Floating Charging Platform for All-Electric Vessels Powered with Renewable Energy Sources: Techno-Economic Feasibility and Emission Reduction Potential. The 25th Conference on Process Integration, Modelling and Optimisation for Energy Saving and Pollution Reduction, J.J. Klemeš, S. Nižetić, P.S. Varbanov (eds.), Split/Bol, Croatia, September 2022. Paper No. PRES22.0467. 16 pages.
[2] Marija Koričan, Lovro Frković, Nikola Vladimir : Electrification of Fishing Vessels and their Integration into Isolated Energy Systems with a High Share of Renewables. Journal of Cleaner Production (ISSN: 0959-6526, eISSN: 1879-1786), Vol. 425, 2023. Paper No. 138997. 14 p.
Acknowledgement
This investigation has been co-funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund of the European Union within the project “INTEL-MARIC”, granted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Directorate of Fisheries, Republic of Croatia (Award No. UP/I-324-01/21-01/385).