The Swedish impact company WA3RM and Norwegian BIO3 have agreed to jointly develop a production facility for animal feed protein, primarily for fish feed, at NorSea’s NorSea Atlantic facility in Averøy, Norway. The aim of the facility is to convert byproducts from the agriculture and forestry industries into highly nutritious and versatile fungi-based proteins on a large scale. It will meet significant domestic and international demand for sustainable protein sources to support the planned growth of the aquaculture industry.
“Last year, the Norwegian government set a target that all feed for farmed fish and pets must come from sustainable sources by 2034. Achieving this goal requires a substantial expansion of production based on new feed ingredients. Our joint production facility with WA3RM and NorSea will demonstrate how this can be accomplished," said Sigmund Røeggen, CEO of BIO3 AS.
BIO3 and WA3RM have collaboratively designed the production facility, that will be operated by BIO3. WA3RM will structure the financing with a mix of green bonds and long-term loans in collaboration with strong financial partners.
“Being able to add protein production to our food systems platform is yet another testament to the global potential of using industrial byproducts as an enabler for a more sustainable future. The world is in urgent need of sustainable and scalable solutions to reduce the impact of food production for humans and animals," said Jacques Eiljerskov, CEO of WA3RM AB.
WA3RM recently announced a partnership with Wilh. Wilhelmsen-owned NorSea Group to utilize its infrastructure to develop new circular industrial projects where byproducts from a core industry are converted into valuable new resources. The BIO3 production facility at NorSea Atlantic in Averøy is the initial outcome of this partnership.
"NorSea is impressed by the innovative mindset and expertise of our partners BIO3 and WA3RM. We are proud to be part of this collaboration and look forward to contributing to the best possible establishment at our Averøy facility, NorSea Atlantic. The potential and, above all, the scalability of the project will open up significant opportunities for circular value chains that we have not seen before in our extensive portfolio of infrastructure," said Frode Aass, senior vice president, NorSea Group.
Phase 1 of BIO3’s production facility at NorSea Atlantic is scheduled to begin construction in the third quarter of 2025.
