Pingtan Island, located in southeast China's Fujian Province, has recently become home to a unique project that combines offshore wind power and smart aquaculture. The Wind-Fishery Integration Project aims to create a sustainable and eco-friendly fishery system by utilizing the area's marine environment conditions and the country's first ocean-distributed wind power project.

The ongoing project in its preliminary phase estimated at 20 million yuan ($3.1million) under Beijing Tianrun New Energy Investment Co., Ltd., incorporates a range of R&D research on wind power and smart aquaculture located in the narrow channel of Taiwan Straits near the waterway of Pingtan- one of the world's three major windy spots. The area is plagued by strong winds, high waves, deep waters, and fast currents all year round, making it an ideal location for testing wind power and aquaculture integration.

"We plan to build a three-dimensional aquaculture platform in this area, with a combination of cutting-edge technologies like 5G, the Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence," said Weng Jianfeng, seniorregionaldevelopment manager for Beijing Tianrun New Energy Investment Co., Ltd.'s (South China region). “This will pave the way for fostering a green energy and smart deep-sea aquaculture industry system."

One of the key challenges facing deep-sea aquaculture in areas like the Pingtan Strait is the impact of wind and waves on fish cages. To overcome this, the project team has developed a new technology called the single-column combination fish cage structure, which is the first of its kind in China. The technology is equipped with multiple functions, such as automatic lifting and feeding, and high-performance replacement net pieces. It can automatically reinforce the anchor cable during typhoons and turbulent waves, ensuring the fish cages' safety while minimizing potential marine pollution.

With this technology’s help, fish farmers can remotely monitor the fish cages in real time and adjust the feed according to historical data. It will help increase fish production, fishers' income, and fishing village development.

The Wind-Fishery Integration Project is expected to lay a foundationforsustainable and eco-friendly deep-sea aquaculture, promote the integration of ocean ranching and wind power, and achieve both ecological and economic benefits. The project team plans to release the first batch of grouper fingerlings soon and will continue to explore more advanced technologies to improve the performance and productivity of fish cages.

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