World’s first solar powered boat

It will connect Palm (Balearic Islands) with Valencia in 2005. The prototype, a catamaran of 10 meters of length, has been built in a year in the shipyards of Campos after an investment of 180,000 €.

Travel between Palma and Valencia with a boat that moves thanks to  solar energy? A triviality. Impossible. Those would be the most common answers. But no. Last Monday (24/8) was demonstrated that not only it is possible this travels thanks to solar energy, but that within a year it will be a reality.

The catamaran has been baptized as  Solemar and yesterday at noon it has  its official opening at the Bay of Palm, after its presentation at the Royal Nautical Club.

Design

The prototype had a cost of 180,000 euros and has been designed by the engineers Llorenc Balaguer and Alvaro Gómez. It can reach a final speed of 6 knots, that yes, always with navigation in calm waters, nothing  about  brave seas.
The Solemar has been developed by the Technological Electrosolar Center of Marratxí and is dedicated to the fight against the marine pollution.  The boat is  10 meters long and 3.50 meters of sleeve. Weights 3.5 tons in emptiness and 6 tons with passengers.
The ship has a capacity for 28 passengers seated under the shade of the installed solar panels from the latest generation in the ceiling, and reaches a final speed of 6 knots and at cruise 4 knots with wind it 3/4forces.
The boat also has two banks of batteries that give it an autonomy, without sun or solar energy, of 10 hours going at 4 knots and 30 hours at 2 knots, thanks to two motors of 2.4 kilowatts with an optimal relation weigh-power.

Outstanding Technological Innovations?  The boat has  two unsinkable helmets, with leading edges of only 7 degrees that allow the penetration of the water without creating waves. In sum, a catamaran of the latest generation that arrives at the Majorcan Mediterranean ready to become a world wide reference.
Here we can confirm once again the  kindness of solar energy and that it can be used in mostly everything we do in our lives.