The company is now looking put a demonstration unit in the water this year and build their first commercial unit in 2023. ReShore has been awarded a number of government grants and the commercialisation process has benefitted from the two founders taking part in the StartLife accelerator programme, which finished in December 2021. These trials have shown that combining mussels and breakwaters adds to the efficacy of the structures when it comes to reducing the impact of high seas, according to Gustafsson. The company demonstrated proof of their design’s concept at Marin’s wave basin in the Netherlands last year. "Many of the potential customers we’ve spoken to see aquaculture is a bonus, not as the core business – so harvesting the end products is not necessarily required,” he explains. However, Gustafsson adds that not all of those interested in the novel breakwater designs are seeking to harvest the shellfish or seaweed commercially. “Shellfish can be grown anywhere but to do so on a commercial basis you need to have existing industrial infrastructure, so you don't have to start from the bottom up,” he notes. However, he also admits that it makes the most sense to focus on areas where there’s an existing shellfish farming sector. In terms of integrating aquaculture into ReShore’s designs, Gustafsson notes that shellfish spat settle naturally on a range of structures, so there’s scope to combine the two with minimal effort. “They are largely deployed in areas that are no longer protected by nature and are most effective in sheltered areas, rather than being used as the first line of defence against waves,” he adds. “Floating breakwaters are typically used in marinas and ports – some are on a very large scale, such as in Monaco, where the breakwater has a parking lot inside it,” notes Gustafsson. They also plan to use steel and concrete as the main components of the pontoons themselves.įloating breakwaters are less common that fixed versions, but are becoming increasingly popular. “We wanted to incorporate existing systems, such as oyster bags, seaweed lines or mussel ropes,” says Gustafsson. While the concept is innovative, the duo decided against attempting to reinvent the wheel. Meanwhile aquaculture systems can be suspended underneath for aquaculture production, potentially even on a commercial scale,” Gustafsson explains. “The double pontoon makes it more effective for protecting against large waves. Their imaginations were fired by paper from researchers in Scotland which examined the use of a double pontoon to break waves. This combines the reliability of engineering infrastructure with the benefits of nature.” “Mangroves, corals and wetlands are natural breakwaters but they’re hard to sell, so we decided to look at selling grey-green infrastructure instead. “We realised that it was easier to sell the breakwaters as the primary product, and use the prospect of the ecological services delivered by the product as a bonus,” Gustafsson reflects.
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