Land-based producer Swiss Blue Salmon have selected Trondheim-headquartered technology supplier VAQ for its salmon farm in the canton of Glarus, in central Switzerland.
Founded in 2020, Swiss Blue Salmon has secured a 27,000 square meter site to build its 3,400 metric ton land-based recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) salmon farm.
Vertically integrated from hatchery to grow-out, the facility will have room to expand to produce 12,000 metric tons per annum.
VAQ is the former Billund Aquaculture Norway and was rebranded in 2022 after separating from Billund Aquaculture in Denmark. The company is now fully Norwegian – with investment company Broodstock Capital as the majority owner.
Switzerland is well suited to power-hungry RAS production. Thanks to its focus on renewables, energy bills have been more stable than the rest of Europe in recent years.
The average wholesale electricity price in Switzerland amounted to some €82.42 per megawatt-hour in July 2023.
Read more: Swiss salmon farmer given green light to triple production
Switzerland imports as much as 98 percent of the fish it consumes. Swiss Blue Salmon’s planned facility could replace up to 8 percent of this imported salmon with a locally farmed product.
