Lobster farmer gets claws into green energy project
THE world’s first business to produce land-based farmed lobsters and Norwegian data specialists Green Mountain have teamed up in a ground-breaking energy project.
Norwegian Lobster Farm has entered into an agreement with data centre Green Mountain on the reuse of waste heat from the IT business.
The project represents an innovative example of the circular economy, with waste heat from the data centre reused for the lobster farm’s RAS (recirculating aquaculture system).
The announcement follows the unveiling of a similar partnership earlier this month between Green Mountain and land-based trout farmer Hima Seafood.
The farm’s lobsters need a temperature of 20°C for optimal growth. This is exactly the temperature of the seawater that has been used to cool the IT equipment in Green Mountain’s data centre. This heated wastewater can therefore be delivered directly to the fish farm.
Cooling a data centre usually accounts for an additional 40-80% of the electricity required to power the servers.
Green Mountain uses an innovative fjord cooling solution.
The plan is to build a new production facility adjacent to the data centre where this heated seawater can be used directly in the breeding of lobsters.
The CEO of Norwegian Lobster Farm, Asbjørn Drengstig, said:
“In practical terms, this means that we can scale up production, reduce technical risk, and save both CAPEX and OPEX. In addition to the environmental benefits, of course.”