#news : Solar Boat Heads to Cancun

After more than two months at sea, a boat powered exclusively with solar power has crossed the Atlantic in record time and arrived in Miami, Florida. The boat and crew will rest for a couple of days before heading out to Cancun, Mexico. The developers of the boat hope to show delegates attending the UN Climate Conference, that renewable energy is the way of the future. At more than 30 meters long, Turanor is the world's largest solar-powered boat, and it's crew of six is on a mission to show the world that clean, renewable power is no longer a futuristic dream, but a practical reality. Raphael Domjan, developer of Turanor, said, "The idea is to show that today we have the technologies to change. Not tomorrow, but today we can change. Now, it is not a boat you can buy on the normal markets but it is possible that we can be optimistic for the future." Turanor is powered by two large motors which run on electricity supplied by batteries located in the hold. The batteries, fed by photovoltaic solar panels on the deck, can store enough power to last three days. Turanor captain Patrick Marchesseau says the global voyage has been problem-free so far, although he admits the longer sections require some tactical thinking. He said, "When you leave you have a certain quantity of energy in your batteries plus the sun but you do not have enough to reach the next port, to cross the Atlantic. So you have to deal, everyday to deal with the weather forecast to make sure you balance what you will consume and what you will receive." Turanor has been at sea for more than sixty days. Marchesseau says that in another ten months, the crew will hopefully have achieved its goal when Turanor becomes the first solar-powered boat to circumnavigate the earth. (CNTV.cn November 30, 2010)

Earlier this year we mentioned the plans for the world's largest solar boat. The boat is now on the water. It left Monaco in late September 2010 and will arrive in Miami on November 29, 2010. The 102-foot yacht has a 50-foot beam and weighs around 60 tons. The topside of the ship is covered with 5,300 square feet of solar panels and it can hit a top speed of around 15 knots. The catamaran is being piloted around the world by five men and one woman to raise awareness of the carbon footprint created by boats used to ship goods. Craig Loomes of LOMOcean Design designed the Turanor Planet Solar to piece waves, which uses less energy than riding atop them.

Raphaël Domjan, a Swiss engineer and founder of the PlanetSolar project, entlisted German entrepreneur Immo Ströher, an advocate of renewable forms of energy, to join forces with him in this project. Ströher invested $17.5 million into the development of Turanor PlanetSolar. "We want to help drive forward the development of sustainable energy technologies on the water and in other mobile applications," says Ströher. "The aim is to offer future-proof solutions for sustainable living in major cities and environmentally responsible mobility concepts."

After Miami, the yacht will held to Cancun, Mexico, the site of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

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