Two groups of Japanese technology designers have taken that notion one step further — effectively applying the motto “if you can’t beat them, join them” — by incorporating fish-farming infrastructure into their wind- and marine-energy machines.

Skwid

Mitsui subsidiary Modec — best-known in offshore circles for its floating production vessels for the oil industry — unveiled its 1MW Skwid last year. The unit marries a 24-metre-diameter direct-drive Darrieus vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) with a keel-mounted Savonius ocean-current energy device and a purpose-built spur export line for firing up the high-intensity banks of lights used to lure squid to the surface.

“To