Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Swiss solar ship succeeds.

Sun 21, shown above, arrived at the North Cove yacht harbor, Battery Park City, on May 8, having begun her somewhat circuitous voyage in Basel, Switzerland, last November. She sailed down the Rhine to the North Sea, around the west coast of Europe and up the Guayaquil River to Seville, Spain, back to the Atlantic and the Canaries, across the ocean to Martinique, up the Antilles to Miami, and up the U.S. east coast to New York. You can see video accounts of her voyage using an interactive map on this site.

The immediate practical significance of this isn't great; much remains to be done to make solar power of the type used on Sun 21 (using solar panels to power electric motors) economical for large commercial vessels. Indeed, the claim that hers is the first "solar powered" crossing of the Atlantic isn't strictly true: since the wind is caused by the sun's heating of the atmosphere, all sailing vessels can be said to be "solar powered". Still, it's an encouraging development.

1 comment:

  1. no real mention of speed, other than noting that it is "slow". interesting, but it also sounds like it would have been faster to sail. i could see using solar batteries to power a ship's electronics and for powering the engine at need, whilst using wind as the primary power for sailing.

    i think solar power has great potential. however, i also think that what most enthusiasts fail to realize is that most don't believe things like crossing the atlantic on solar power are impossible. photovoltatic cells have been around far too long for that sort of mindset. therefore, proving that it can be done at all is a hollow victory. what needs to be done is to prove it can be done efficiently and just as fast as diesel powered engines, etc..