World's largest solar-powered boat to stopover in Tonga [1]
Friday, April 15, 2011 - 10:59. Updated on Wednesday, September 11, 2013 - 10:06.
Raphaël Domjan the Swiss skipper of a 31-metre solar powered catamaran, the MS TÛRANOR PlanetSolar on a maiden circumnavigation voyage around the world, made a presentation at Tonga's first Sustainable Energy Expo at the Fa'onelua Convention Centre, on the evening of April 12; ahead of the arrival of his boat, which is expected in Tonga before the end of April.
Raphaël who brings a message that abundant solar energy is falling from the skies every day - and all we need to do is to harness it - has proven that Solar Power has the capacity to power a catamaran in rough and high seas, and that it is also environmentally friendly without any pollutant emission.
The MS TÛRANOR Planet Solar has an impressive design with almost its entire upper area covered by 536.65 square metres of photovoltaic solar panels, making it the biggest solar-powered boat in the world. It has a nominal and maximum speed of 100 rpm to 160 rpm and there are only four people on board.
New Zealand designer
The solar vessel was designed in New Zealand and built in Europe. The vessel left Monaco on September 27 2010, and has covered more than 20,000 km arriving in Papeete, Tahiti on March 5 2011. Raphaël said the boat was undergoing maintenance in Tahiti and is expected to reach Tonga in the last week of April.
The complete voyage of over 50,000km will take the MS TÛRANOR Planet Solar via the Atlantic, the Panama Canal, the Pacific, the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal and back to the Mediterranean.
In the ports of Miami, Cancun, Brisbane, Hongkong, Shanghai, Singapur, Mumbai and Abu Dhabi the MS TÛRANOR PlanetSolar is to promote the sustainibility and efficiency
of renewable energies.
It can navigate up to three days even without exposure to the sunlight. The boat's task is to demonstrate that motorised shipping can work without fuel. The long-term performance of the MS TÛRANOR PlanetSolar is to be tested for the first time in its circumnavigation of the globe
Raphaël said what they know now is that the boat works, and it works in rough and high seas so it is stable and the equipment is working well.
"It's nice to have it working and it is great to have this technology to change energy."
Dr Luka Muller-Studer, a member of the MS TÛRANOR PlanetSolar support team, who accompanied Raphael said that attending the Tonga Sustainable Energy Expo in Nuku'alofa resulted in good exchanges, including the fact that solar energy is one of the only viable solutions to replace fuel.
He said the PlanetSolar project showed that current technologies aimed at improving energy efficiency are reliable and effective.
"Secondly to gain information and experience on how to advance scientific research in renewable energy, and with the extensive information and experience we have gathered so far would assist us on how to make the boat better, for a second use," he said.
The name TÛRANOR is derived from the Lord of the Rings Saga of J.R.R. Tolkien and translates into "The Power of the Sun".