The needs of a land-based aquaculture facility change over time. Production may increase, production strategies may change, and new equipment may place different demands on tanks, piping systems and existing infrastructure.
This does not necessarily mean that the entire facility needs to be rebuilt. In many cases, existing facilities can be adapted to new requirements through targeted upgrades, like Salmon Evolution did with their smolt facility in Dale, Volda.
A facility designed for one type of production may not necessarily be optimally suited to today’s operations.
For example, there may be a need to produce larger fish on land, increase capacity, install new process equipment, or convert from a flow-through system to a hybrid or RAS solution.
Such changes may require new process piping, penetrations, manifolds, drainage solutions and modifications around existing fish tanks.
Good water quality is essential in land-based fish farming. When water treatment systems are upgraded, new piping and connections may be required for equipment such as drum filters, oxygenation systems and CO₂ degassing systems.
Technology and process suppliers design and size these solutions. They then need to be built and installed within the existing facility.
An upgrade may also involve replacing ageing piping systems, improving access to technical installations, or making inspection and maintenance easier.
In a facility that needs to operate around the clock, high-quality workmanship and robust solutions are essential.
In many cases, existing buildings and fish tanks can remain in use while liners, piping systems and technical installations are renewed.
PE lining can, for example, be used to rehabilitate existing concrete or steel tanks, while process piping and other equipment can be replaced or modified to meet new requirements.
Read more: New PE-lining for Lødingen Fisk
Whether upgrading or building a new facility is the right solution must be assessed on a project-by-project basis. But once the solution has been chosen, it also needs to work in practice.
One example is Salmon Evolution’s smolt facility at Dale in Volda, Norway. Here, an existing 18-metre fish tank was converted from a traditional flow-through system to a hybrid solution.
Sterner was responsible for the technology, while Bluegreen carried out the piping, installation and adaptation of process equipment. The work included process piping ranging from 75 to 500 mm, including connections to the drum filter, CO₂ degasser and oxygenation system.
The project is a good example of how an existing facility can be adapted to new production requirements – without starting from scratch.
Read more about the Salmon Evolution project
Bluegreen provides piping, PE lining and on-site installation for land-based aquaculture facilities.
