Aquaculture in combination with solar energy in Vietnam

The German International cooperation organization GIZ and Fraunhofer Institute of Sun Energy (ISE) have entered into a cooperation agreement with partners of Vietnamese private and public sectors in order to develop a new project of aquaculture in combination with sun energy in the Mekong Delta.

The project Solar-Aquaculture Habitats as Resource-Efficient and Integrated Multilayer Production Systems (SHRIMPS) involves sun energy moduli to be installed on the roofs of shrimp greenhouses in a trial factory in Bạc Liêu.

The project is expected to be finished in 2022 and make good use of aquaculture land, reduce the consumed freshwater and generated discharged water, reduce CO2 discharges, and yet stabilize water temperature so that shrimps can weigh up and working conditions of employees in the factory are improved.

On behalf of GIZ, Project Manager Tobias Cossen affirmed: “The project will provide a practical solution to optimize the use of aquaculture land and food and energy production in Vietnam, as well as help aquaculture areas with better adaptation to climate change”. He emphasized: “We will monitor the installation in the trial factory and then will transfer technology to small and medium-sized seafood companies in other provinces and finally will expand the model to other countries in Southeast Asia”.

This project is in the framework of research cooperation between the Vietnam Government and German Government. German’s Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is the sponsor for implementing the project in accordance with the framework program of “Research for sustainable development” (FONA3) by supporting research and development activities carried out by its partner Fraunhofer ISE, German’s Thünen Ecology Institute, SMA Sunbelt Energy GmbH and Suntrace GmbH.