AKVA group has taken over construction of Årdal Aqua’s post-smolt facility in Årdal, Norway, following Billund Aquaculture’s bankruptcy.
When complete, the Årdal facility will consist of four post-smolt modules, each with a capacity of 1,500 metric tons. AKVA confirmed it expects to finish construction in June 2025.
AKVA said it recruited former Billund employees who had been working on the project and that it will also contribute additional resources “to ensure the successful completion of the facility.”
"Engaging AKVA group was crucial to ensure the post-smolt facility is completed as planned,” Årdal Aqua General Manager Nils Viga said. “We are confident that their expertise and the integration of key personnel from the previous supplier will ensure progress and completion by June 2025.”
Årdal Aqua was created in 2021 from a joint venture between Grieg Seafood, smolt and post-smolt company Vest Havbruk, and the Stavanger, Norway-based investor group Omfar. The project is designed to produce larger smolt and will grow some fish all the way through to harvest for human consumption.
“Through our post-smolt investments we acquire competence on how to produce larger fish on land. Based on this knowledge, Årdal Aqua will also grow fish all the way to harvest size. We will take a step-by-step approach, as we know how complex biology is,” Kvame said in 2021. “With continuous improvements that reduce the impact from our sea farms, something we work a lot on, farming in the seas will still be the main component of the industry going forward. Land-based farming is, however, a great supplement, and we look forward to taking part in the development of this technology.”
Årdal Aqua has said it hopes to construct 10 modules at the site, with a total capacity of 15,000 MT annually, by 2030.
AKVA also announced it is on target to delivery a land-based salmon farm for Laxey in Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland.
Laxey, formerly known as Icelandic Land Farmed Salmon, has raised EUR 82 million (USD 74 million) to fund its recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) smolt facility and flow-through farm being constructed in Iceland’s Westman Islands. It is currently constructing the first section of its salmon farm, including a hatchery and post-smolt production area, which will have a total annual production capacity of 4,500 metric tons (MT) of head-on gutted salmon. The first section will be operational by mid-2024, and Laxey is expected to conduct its first sales by late 2025.
AKVA began work on the project in 2022, and thus far, it has completed two of three RAS systems for smolt and an incubation unit. Laxey then extended AKVA’s contract to include construction of the rest of the farm.
“This decision follows the success of our previous collaboration on the hatchery project, where a strong mutual interest to continue working together on the grow-out phase was established,” Laxey Chief Technology Officer Hallgrímur Steinsson said.
Laxey plans to build six grow-out modules, each with eight 28-meter fish tanks providing 40,000 square meters of rearing capacity in each module. The first grow-out module is currently under construction to be ready for post-smolt stocking by mid-2025, according to AKVA.
Laxey eventually hopes to produce 32,000 MT of large-size salmon by 2031. AKVA has begun construction on the first grow-out module, which will have 5,300 tons of annual capacity, while Laxey is fundraising for its second module and expects to have funding in place by the end of the year, with construction starting in early 2025.
Laxey’s incubation unit and start-feeding system were completed in December 2023, the smolt RAS is also in operation, with Laxey receiving its third batch of eggs in July 2024. The facility includes one incubation unit and three RAS systems to grow fish to the smolt stage. The facility is designed to run four batches per year, with an expected output of around four million smolt of 100 grams. At that weight, they will be transferred to a post-smolt system using borehole saltwater coming from 30-meter holes, according to AKVA. The post-smolt system, which consists of six fish tanks, each with an 18-meter diameter and a 900-square-meter volume, is nearing completion. Post-smolt of 500 grams will be moved to grow-out modules for eventual harvest at five to six kilograms in weight.
"We are happy to have this system in operation, which consists of core AKVA group technology, and it seems to be running extremely well. The systems have been performing excellently, and the growth has been really good," Steinsson said.
Laxey Chair Lárus Ásgeirsson praised AKVA’s work on the project.
"With the smolt RAS now in operation, we are pleased to continue the excellent collaboration with AKVA group. We expect to expand AKVA group's responsibilities and look forward to many more years of working closely together on this massive land-based project," Ásgeirsson said.
