On 15 November, a bio mussel force line was installed at the Belwind offshore wind farm as part of a research project investigating mussel farming at offshore wind farms.
At the Belwind site, the project will measure the forces exerted by the sea on the livestock facilities.
The partners behind the two-year Noordzee Aquacultuur project are looking into the biological, technical and economic feasibility of growing shellfish on Belgian wind farms in the North Sea, as well as the complementarity of simultaneously managing a mussel farm and an offshore wind farm.
In May 2017, they installed their first mussel farming system at an offshore wind farm operated by C-Power.
The project comprises the Ghent University, Belgium’s Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO), Belwind, C-Power, as well as Brevisco, Colruyt Group, DEME Group, Lobster Fish and Sioen Industries.