Solar powered boats
I was interested to read this article in The Times today about a solar powered boat, the biggest boat apparenty to be powered in this way. Sadly though it is not British but comes from a Swiss company, and built in Germany.
The boat, which is from a company called PlanetSolar, is
a multlihull vessel topped by a large array of photovoltaic solar panels, constructed by Knierim Yacht Club, in Kiel, Germany.
The Times informs us that
The 31m (100ft) by 15m catamaran, PlanetSolar , has been developed to be silent and clean, its Swiss-based maker said. The ship will be able to travel at a top speed of 15 knots (17mph) and carry 50 people.
The PlanetSolar, which was built in Kiel, Germany, will be launched in March and will be part of celebrations at Hamburg port in May. A crew of two plan to begin the world tour, which will cover about 40,000km (24,850 miles) along the equator, from April next year.
It all sounds very exciting. But whatever happened to wind power? I am sure I read several years ago about computer operated sailing boats being developed – where are they?
