Panoramic view of Salmon Evolution's facility at Indre Harøy, near Molde, Norway.
Photo: Artec Aqua.
Norwegian aquaculture industry technical solutions company Nordkontakt has once again been entrusted by Salmon Evolution to automate Phase 2 of its land-based aquaculture facility in Indre Harøy, near Molde, Norway.
Headquartered in Bodø, the aquatech company - which specializes in automation, digitalization, and information technology - has signed an agreement with the general contractor for the facility, Artec Aqua, with which it already worked for the automation of Phase 1 of the same project.
The new contract includes design and engineering, instrumentation, software, hardware, and commissioning for local automation as well as central operations management for the entire process plant, which will be constructed with stringent operational technology (OT) security requirements.
Artec Aqua is a turnkey provider of land-based aquaculture, specializing in the design of hybrid flow-through systems, and the main contractor for a number of high-profile land-based projects. In addition to Salmon Evolution's Phase 1 and Phase 2, it is also the main supplier for GeoSalmo, another hybrid flow-through salmon farming project in southern Iceland. Its CEO, Fredrik Langehaug, explained why they had decided to repeat the experience with Nordkontakt.
"Nordkontakt delivered as planned in Phase 1, and we have chosen Nordkontakt again due to their pricing, expertise, technological solutions, and positive experiences from various projects in a collaboration spanning 12 years," he stated.
Artec Aqua's CEO also highlighted that Nordkontakt has a highly skilled engineering team specialized in the automation of hatcheries and land-based aquaculture facilities. "Their delivery of high-quality work and execution capability in Phase 1 positively influenced the decision to reselect them for Phase 2," Langehaug added.
This is not the first time that one of its partners has highlighted the good work of the aquatech company. Just over a year ago, at the announcement of their partnership in December 2023, Espen Gleinsvåg, project manager of Nova Sea's new slaughterhouse in Lovund emphasized that Nordkontakt is a qualified player that has accumulated technology and know-how over many years. "They have good references, and we expect a strong delivery on the assignment," he said.
Nordkontakt CEO Tom Erlend Kristiansen commented at the time that, as a local engineering company in Bodø, that was an important contract and assignment for them. Now, he again showed his pride at being selected for a project, in this case for a repeat collaboration as automation supplier for Artec Aqua and Salmon Evolution.
"This is a significant vote of confidence in us. We are a national player in land-based hatcheries and aquaculture facilities, and we possess the necessary expertise and experience to deliver for a complex facility like Salmon Evolution. Therefore, this is another important contract for us," he stated.
Salmon Evolution's collaboration with Nordkontakt and Artec Aqua for Phase 2 of its land-based facility is in addition to that announced in October 2024 with Cflow. The Norwegian specialist aquaculture supplier's role in this expansion includes manufacturing all equipment, including piping, valves and pumps, at the company's facility at Langevåg outside Ålesund, Norway, and managing commissioning at Salmon Evolution's Indre Harøy facility.
As Salmon Evolution already announced in November 2024, its Phase 2 is on track for first harvest in 2026. "The realization of Phase 2 will ensure critical scale, taking total output to 18,000 tonnes HOG and facilitating a substantial organic growth capacity for the years to come," the company said then.
At that time, the Norwegian land-based salmon producer also confirmed that it anticipated the first Phase 2 smolt release will take place during the first quarter of 2026. "We have gotten off to a very good start at the building site," CEO Trond Håkon Schaug-Pettersen said. "With Phase 2 online we will have an operational strength few in the industry can rival."
