Salmon power – a new green energy concept

A FORMER Shetland salmon farmer has been exploring ways of cutting his fuel bills by using the power of the fish he is growing.

Davy Tulloch, of Yadsløf Salmon AS, off Norway’s west coast, has been experimenting for the past two years with a turbine he has installed beneath a specially designed fish cage in the company’s hatchery.

Salmon smolts swim around the cage creating a vortex that turns the turbine, generating small amounts of power.

Mr Tulloch, who left Shetland to work in the Norwegian industry eight years ago, said the turbine was generating enough power to light the building in which the hatchery is based.

He hopes to be able to perfect the design so the fish can produce even more power to run the machines that feed the fish, and even has plans to take the device offshore.

“The principle is really simple. The fish swim round and round and create a whirlpool effect and all I am trying to do is harness that energy,” he said.

“With fuel costs increasing all the time, we are having to look at every possible way we can of producing power from whatever sources are available.

“It’s going to be a challenge offshore where the currents can be so strong, but there may be possibilities to use my ideas to create micro tidal schemes around offshore fish farms that can be used to power feed barges. That would be a huge breakthrough.”

Mr Tulloch has already contacted the Shetland Renewable Energy Forum’s new development officer Robin Sampson to see if the industry in his native islands might be interested in his ideas.

Mr Sampson said: “This is an entirely new concept, but the principles are relatively straight forward. We need as many as many ideas as possible to meet the government’s renewables targets and this could be a real help to the aquaculture industry in the isles.”