The Dawn of a New Algae-Based Marine Industry in Sweden
During the last several years, several big projects have studied the possibility to cultivate algae in the sea and on land for the use in integrated bio-refineries producing food, feed, bio-based materials and energy. The projects have so far been successful and the Swedish west coast is now facing the dawn of a new climate-smart maritime industry that doesn’t need irrigation and fertilizer, using the vast space in the sea and thus saving valuable land areas. In order to inspect the coming facilities in exposed sea areas, there is a need to reduce the costly use of boats and divers. Thus, there is great interest from this new industry to take part in the development of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV s) that could be used for the inspection of cultivation rigs. This lecture will focus on the cultivation of algae and the possible impact on the marine ecosystem and the future use of AUVs.