Hofseth plans to hold a majority share in Ovum to invest in the closed and environmentally friendly concept, the Egg. The technology developer Ovum is formerly known as Hauge Aqua Solutions.
Firstly, the fish farmer has bought half of the shares in the company that owns the development permits associated with the Egg cage concept.
Thereby, Hofseth has committed to producing 5 full-scale eggs with a volume of 20,000 cubic meters. Also, a prototype of the cage structure of 2,000 cubic meters will start its production in Romsdalsfjorden.
Precisely, Managing director, Roger Hofseth has underlined the prominent future of closed farming technology: "We are convinced that closed facilities are the future, both because we eliminate lice, escape and emissions, but also because we are freer in terms of location and get better control over the biological processes."
On the other side, Ovum founder Cato Lyngøy noted: "The whole idea behind Egg is that the salmon should have a good life. Now, we will have to evaluate whether we have succeeded. The strategic collaboration with Hofseth is of crucial importance to carrying out the development project."
The six permits acquired by Hofseth, first awarded by Mowi subsequently were bought by Akvakulturpartner. In more detail, the acquisition of the facilities had a total investment of around NOK 1 billion.
Presumably, the government will offer incentives to commercialize closed facilities. However, Hofseth took another direction: "We don't have time for that. That is why we took advantage of the opportunity to buy into one of the most exciting and innovative projects in Norwegian aquaculture."
According to Hofseth, each ready-made egg has a cost of around NOK 100 million. While an open plant with the same volume costs approximately 3 million.
"Closed technology is sustainable, and the future of Norwegian aquaculture. Now the industry needs government incentives that stimulate conversion from open to closed technology because the closed one is much more expensive." Hofseth concluded.
