US Misses The Offshore Wind Boat And Aquaculture, Too

Support CleanTechnica’s work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe.

When President Donald Trump decided to stop practically the entire US offshore wind industry in its tracks, he achieved the expected outcomes in terms of lost jobs and missed opportunities to harvest more kilowatts from the sea. Nevertheless, the global wind industry continues to flex its muscles, and the latest news indicates that the aquaculture industry is beginning to reap the benefits of clean power in coastal waters — if not here in the US, then elsewhere around the world.

Diesel-Killing Offshore Wind Turbines, Coming Soon (To Chile)

To be clear, the US offshore wind industry is not dead yet. Despite Trump’s executive orders halting offshore wind development, projects under construction in Rhode Island, New York, and Virginia have managed to escape the chopping block. In addition, earlier this month a federal judge ruled against the Trump administration in a case involving permit reviews, raising the potential for other projects in the pipeline to begin work in the near future.

Still, enough damage has been done to set the US back to the offshore wind starting gate, which other nations have already left far behind. Among those aiming to race ahead is Chile, where the government’s InvestChile agency has launched a collaboration with two of the world’s offshore wind leaders, Norway and Denmark.

“Offshore wind energy is a solid opportunity to attract international investment and promote sustainable regional development,” explains InvestChile’s Head of Investment Promotion, Salvatore Di Giovanni.

It’s also an opportunity to support the Chilean aquaculture industry. Next year the Swedish floating wind innovator SeaTwirl, for example, will assess how its vertical axis wind turbines can be deployed to power offshore equipment at aquaculture facilities in Chile.

“The feasibility study will cover a comprehensive scope, including energy demand and power system requirements, environmental site conditions, cost assessments, supply chain opportunities, and logistics in Chilean waters with the intention to reduce dependence on diesel,” SeaTwirl explains.

Aquaculture Says Buh-Bye To Diesel

Offshore wind is not the only pathway to a more sustainable aquaculture industry in Chile. The floating solar industry is also in play and Norway is involved there, too. In October, the Chilean offshoot of the Norwegian firm Alotta committed to supplying its floating solar technology to fish farms in the Los Lagos region under the umbrella of the aquaculture firm Trusal.

The energy-as-a-service agreement enables Trusal to gain the benefits of solar power without paying up front for the solar arrays. “This model allows aquaculture companies to significantly reduce cost, diesel consumption and CO₂ emissions, without the need for upfront investments or operational risk,” Alotta explains.

Aside from avoiding the direct expense of diesel fuel, the use of solar power also contributes to workplace improvements for the workers and the fish. “Beyond the clear environmental benefits, the shift from diesel to solar power also transforms the daily experience at the farm sites. The feeding barges will be much quieter, creating a better working environment for staff — and likely a calmer, healthier environment for the fish as well,” Alotta notes.

More Offshore Wind Power For Aquaculture

Chile is just one area of activity for offshore wind and solar companies eyeballing new opportunities in tandem with aquaculture. China has been all over offshore wind like white on rice, and it has already spotted opportunities for aquaculture and floating solar, too.

Back in 2023, the Chinese firm Shanghai Electric surfaced on the CleanTechnica radar with a recap of its multi-stranded project in China’s National Marine Ranching Demonstration Zone, consisting of floating solar and wind platforms engineered to include cages for fish farming.

No word yet on an update on that particular project, but last week the news organization Seafood Source noted that an offshore wind and aquaculture project in the South China Sea has achieved certification from the China Classification Society.

“Fuxi 1, which was launched in late 2024 by a subsidiary of one of China’s leading nuclear power companies, CGN, relies solely on green energy through the wind turbines that surround the platform for power and has the ability to farm multiple species of fish, crustaceans, and algae simultaneously,” Seafood Source elaborated.

Fuxi 1 is designed as a multipurpose offshore facility that provides aquaculture researchers with an R&D platform, in addition to housing aquaculture workers. With the new certification, CGN can market the system all over the world — wherever offshore wind is permitted, that is.

Aquaculture Hearts Offshore Wind

That’s just one example. A quick search of the Intertubes uncovers the Offshore Floating Wind and Offshore Fish Farming project in Norway, which assessed a wind farm in Skagerrak as a case study for co-locating aquaculture and offshore wind turbines. “Floating wind farms in deeper waters offer excellent conditions for salmon farming. The cold, fast-moving waters reduce the risk of sea lice and oxygen deficiency, which supports fish health and animal welfare,” explains the agency Nordic Innovation.

“In addition, these zones restrict bottom trawling, giving marine ecosystems a chance to recover. When fish farming is added to these protected areas, they become sites of active food production, allowing us to preserve and make sustainable use of the ocean at the same time,” they add.

Another intriguing intersection between offshore food systems and offshore wind turbines surfaced earlier this month in the peer reviewed journal Global Ecology and Conservation. The researchers studied the monopile foundations that characterize offshore wind farms in relatively shallow waters, and found a multiplicity of ecosystem benefits.

“The results showed that the colonization of turbine monopiles by sessile organisms significantly increased the productivity of most fish functional groups in the OWF [Offshore Wind Farm] area compared to the control,” the researchers reported. “The OWF ecosystem exhibited higher trophic levels, especially for macroinvertebrates and fish, and a more complex food web with enhanced detritus flow than the control area.”

“Overall, the presence of the OWF resulted in significant changes in the trophic flow and system structure, creating a more complex, mature, and stable benthic-dominated ecosystem,” they concluded.

There’s more, much more, going on in the area of offshore wind and aquaculture on the global scene. Too bad the US is missing out on all the action, but hey, at least we’re getting a sh—y new ballroom out of it!

Image: The Swedish startup SeaTwirl is among the offshore wind stakeholders seeking collaboration with the global aquaculture industry (cropped, courtesy of SeaTwirl).