World’s largest solar-powered boat arrives in Miami, Florida
Solar News December 29th, 2010The world’s largest solar-powered shiny white boat arrives in Miami, Florida after an Atlantic crossing that started in Monaco and lasted 61 days, 34 minutes in record time. Before heading to Mexico for the climate conference, where developers hope to show off the vessel as a way of the future. A vessel seemingly straight out of a vintage James Bond movie will slip into Miami’s Government Cut sometime around 8 a.m. Saturday.
The 102-foot-long Turanor PlanetSolar — which its team of Swiss-German builders says translates into ”power of the sun” in the Elvish language JRR Tolkien invented for Lord of the Rings — is far from the first boat to run on the sun.
“This is a milestone in the progress of solar mobility,” says Immo Ströher, owner of Turanor PlanetSolar and president and CEO of Rivendell AG, a Swiss firm that invests in renewable energy. “It is my vision to see solar power take its rightful place – not only on rooftops, but also on the roads, seas and in the skies of the future.”
Photovoltaic panels cover the 5,700-square-foot deck of the 102-foot catamaran, which has a 50-foot beam and wave-piercing hulls to maximize efficiency.
The vessel is powered exclusively by solar energy stored in 800 lithium-ion cells that run four electric motors (two 20 kW and two 40 kW). Cruising speed is 7 to 8 knots. Through energy storage, the catamaran can move for up to three days without direct sunlight.
Back in 2007, the 46-foot Sun21 catamaran arrived in Miami from southern Spain to complete the first Atlantic crossing by a solar boat. But the Turanor is the biggest, easy and advanced design yet. It’s also built with the ambitious goal of circumnavigating the globe without burning a thimble of gasoline.
The craft, a strange mash-up of gleaming glass arrowhead, sleek flying saucer and knife-nosed catamaran is the brainchild of Raphael Domjan, a Swiss engineer and self-described “eco-adventurer” with a not-all-that crazy scheme to circle the world using only sunshine for fuel.
Domjan says “We want to show what we can do with solar power,” During a satellite phone interview last week as the world’s largest solar-powered boat cruised north of Haiti bound for a four-day stop at Miami Beach Marina, one of only two planned in the United States. “We have the technology to change the world, not tomorrow, but today. This voyage around the world is meant to test the long-term performance of the Turanor PlanetSolar. “When it comes to solar shipping, brilliant innovation is required: less weight, less friction, efficient propulsion, a reliable solar energy store and, finally, the production of electric energy.”
