Dubbed the “Solar Impulse of the
Seas,” the first boat to be powered solely by renewable energies and hydrogen
hopes to make it own historic trip around the world. A water-borne answer to
the Solar Impulse – the plane that completed its round-the-globe trip using
only solar energy in July – the ‘Energy Observer’ will be powered by the sun,
the wind and self-generated hydrogen when it sets sail in February. The multi-hulled
catamaran is awaiting the installation of solar panels, wind turbines and
electrolysis equipment, which breaks down water to produce hydrogen and oxygen.
This is going to be the first boat
with an autonomous means of producing hydrogen. The plan is for the boat’s
batteries, which will feed the electric motors, to be powered in good weather
by solar and wind energy. If there’s no Sun or wind, or at night, stored
hydrogen will take over. As a result, the vessel’s trip will not use any
carbon-emitting fossil fuels.
The catamaran won the Jules Verne
Trophy, for a team sailing non-stop round the world in 1994. It was bought for
500,000 Euros and extended by six metres, to 30.5 metres, for the project. Its world
tour is expected to take six years. After a careful crossing of the Mediterranean,
the catamaran will venture out into the Atlantic and then Pacific Oceans. In all,
101 stopovers are planned form Cuba to New Caledonia to Goa.
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