Ecofys started a trial with the combination of seaweed cultivation and offshore wind energy. Thursday, 01 March, the cultivation module left the NIOZ harbour on the Dutch island of Texel for a disused sand extraction area 10 kilometres west of the island. By late June, Ecofys hopes to harvest the first supply of Dutch seaweed for the production of fish and animal feed, biofuels and energy.
The innovative seaweed cultivation module, which measures 20 by 20 meters, consists of a set of steel cables, held two metres under the sea surface by anchors and floating buoys. Horizontal nets measuring 10 by 10 meters are suspended between the cables. Seaweed plants of species that occur naturally in the North Sea are attached to the nets. The trial will test if the module is ‘North Sea proof’, the survival and growth rate of the plants, and the ecological effects. When the trial succeeds, Ecofys will have reached a global milestone: offshore cultivation of biomass (bio-offshore).