FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY
GeoFood:
An example of circular economy by using geothermal heat, RAS and horticulture to produce fish and vegetables by LandIng Aquaculture, Netherlands As the world moves away from fossil fuels, we keep on the lookout for alternative ways to supply our countries with electricity and heat. Geothermal energy is still a largely untapped renewable resource and offers great potential. For instance, the European ERANET project GeoThermal estimated that Europe produces 1.5GW of electricity from geothermal sources. However, they estimate Europe’s capacity could be equivalent to 80-100GW of electricity. Different countries offer different possibilities. Areas with active volcanism such as Iceland and Italy have high-temperature, shallow sources of heat which can be used to create steam and with it, electricity. Other countries, such as the Netherlands, sit over deep regions of lower temperatures, which can be used directly for district heating and industry. In the Netherlands, some horticultural greenhouse companies have made it an objective to operate their facilities with a minimum use of fossil fuels - both for heating and providing CO2 for their crops. The Dutch geothermal growers, however, face a substantial challenge. Deep geothermal wells are large investments in the order of several millions of euros and. once running, they may not be utilised to their full capacity. As other utilities, geothermal wells have large fixed costs which must be spread over as many users as possible to guarantee profitability. This is a problem when most users prefer
42 | May 2020 - International Aquafeed