Sunday, January 22, 2012

Is There a Future in Solar Boats?


One of the highlights of this year's World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi was a tour of Planet Solar's incredible solar powered yacht — the Turanor. The largest solar powered boat ever to set sail, the Turanor is on the final leg of a round-the-world tour, the first time anyone has managed to sail around the world powered entirely by solar energy. The massive 8.5 ton boat comfortably carries a crew of a half dozen or so with plenty of room to host a dockside party for 100. It cruises comfortably at 5 knots but is capable of double that speed on particularly good days as it cuts through the waves with its knife-like design. Most impressive the boat can can store as much as 3 days worth of sailing power in a huge rack of lithium ion batteries thus allowing it to sail in the dark of night without a hitch. The price of the boat is somewhere close to 20 million dollars.

No comments:

Post a Comment