Offshore wind facility doubles as fish farm

[Video provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

An offshore wind power facility in Fujian province uses the spare space at its base to raise fish. It's part of an innovative effort to boost green development in the ocean.

The facility, which is called "Guoneng Sharing", is located in Putian and is the world's first integrated design combining deep-sea floating wind power and aquaculture.

It consists of a floating platform, a 4-megawatt wind turbine and a mooring and anchoring system. The floating platform is a semisubmersible structure with three columns in the shape of an equilateral triangle with a height of the 28 meters and a draft of 14 meters.

Inside the triangle is a net cage for aquaculture. The volume of water used for fish farming is about 10,000 cubic meters, enough to raise medium-sized fish fry for more than a year.

To maintain safe and stable operations at sea, the platform is moored with nine anchor chains, each approximately 431 meters long, and each column is connected to three mooring cables.

"We chose Putian because it has rich wind resources. Now the equipment is being adjusted and tested. It is expected to generate power around the end of this year," said Feng Xiaoxing, deputy chief engineer of Jiangsu Longyuan Zhenhua Marine Engineering Co, which developed the facility.

At full capacity, it will produce 20 million kilowatt-hours annually to serve needs across the country, he said, adding that the equipment can be operated by remote control or in full automatic mode.

"Raising fish requires a large amount of water, so by making use of the spare space below the floating platform we can improve utility efficiency and maximize the benefits. Also, the deep sea has good water quality for fish farming," he said. The primary fish to be raised and sold are yellow croakers.