Get around the globe in a solar powered boat – what a great challenge and a cool project!
The boat – MS TÛRANOR PlanetSolar - was built in Kiel Germany with a huge array of PV cells on deck to cover 100% of energy demand during the whole trip.
Some facts:
PlanetSolar is a catamaran that runs solely on the energy found in light. Additional removable parts allow it to expose a total of 537 m2 of photovoltaic modules (solar panels) to the sun. This impressive data makes it the biggest solar-powered ship in the world.
- Length: 31 m
- Width: 15 m
- Length with flaps: 35 m
- Width with flaps: 23 m
- Height: 6.1 m
- Draft: 1.55 m
- Weight: 95 t
- Surface area of solar modules: 537 m2
- PV panel efficiency: 18.8%
- Installed PV power: 93.5 kW (127.0 hp)
- Average engine consumption: 20 kW (26.8 hp)
- Crew: 6 people
- Number of people that can go on board: 40
- Autonomy: never-ending solar navigation
Planet Solar´s journey started in September 2010 and can be followed on their website where the current location, images from the journey and logbook entries are published.