Challenge
White Panther Produktion GmbH, part of the Flick Group and located in the Austrian Alps, combines renewable energy and sustainable aquaculture within a circular economy framework. The parent company, FKF Forst und Gutsverwaltung GmbH, operates five small hydroelectric power plants producing about 30 GWh annually—enough electricity to supply the town of Rottenmann—and a biomass plant generating both electricity and heat from wood sourced from the company’s forests. The biomass plant also produces activated carbon used in prawn farming.
The facility uses waste heat from the biomass plant to maintain 2,500 cubic meters of fresh, saline spring water, sourced from the Almbach river, at a constant 28°C within 56 tanks housed in a 90 by 30-meter hall. This integrated, fully self-sufficient energy system ensures uninterrupted prawn farming operations, even during major blackouts.
The main challenge was to cultivate white tiger shrimp and blue mountain shrimp in the cold alpine environment while adhering to high sustainability standards. The system needed to control critical water parameters such as temperature, oxygen, pH, salinity, and ammonium levels and manage feeding and circulation processes to promote healthy, stress-free prawn growth without antibiotics or chemicals.
Solution
White Panther leveraged COPA-DATA’s software platform for automation and process control, a technology already in use for managing their hydropower and biomass plants. Leveraging the software’s no-code configuration, the internal technical team developed a customized process control system that monitors environmental parameters in real time and optimizes farming conditions. Only the PLC interface programming was outsourced.
The automation system handles the regulation of water quality and feed dosing, ensuring optimal conditions for the prawns while actively supporting the circular economy model. Through continuous data-driven monitoring and real-time control, the system enables closed-loop water and energy use, minimizes feed waste, and allows by-products such as activated carbon from the biomass plant to be effectively reused in the aquaculture process. This integration reduces resource consumption and ensures efficient recycling of energy and materials across operations. Continuous data visualization, trend analysis, and flexible parameter adjustments allow the team to fine-tune operations, maximizing efficiency and sustainability.
Impact
The initiative has created a sustainable prawn farming operation rooted in circular economy principles, delivering an inherently efficient and climate-friendly production process from the outset. By integrating renewable energy, waste heat recovery, and closed-loop water systems, White Panther Produktion GmbH cultivates premium-quality prawns without the use of antibiotics, hormones, or chemicals. The local production approach reduces transportation distances and emissions, enabling the delivery of fresh, high-quality seafood to customers.
A crucial factor in the project’s success is the flexibility of the no-code software platform, which empowers White Panther to independently address both operational and transformational needs. This autonomy brings three key advantages: it guarantees consistently high process quality, fostering sustainable and healthy conditions for the shrimp; it supports agile adaptation of the system over time to meet evolving requirements; and it enables comprehensive monitoring and control of the company’s in-house power plants, promoting responsible and sustainable resource management within the circular economy framework.
By combining clean energy with advanced process control and adaptable automation technology, this project sets a pioneering benchmark for sustainable aquaculture. It demonstrates how resilient and scalable food production can thrive even in challenging environments like the Austrian Alps, fully aligning with White Panther’s long-term goals of climate protection, resource conservation, and economic sustainability.
Source: Consultation with COPA-DATA