A boat running on sun, wind and
hydrogen power is proof that 'green' technologies already
available can be put to use for sea travel now and not in some
distant future.
The Energy Observer catamaran will be in Venice from July 5
to July 15 as part of a world tour slated to end in 2022.
The 30.5 x 12.8-meter hull scavenged from a 1970s sailboat is
moored at Isola della Certosa, a part of the lagoon known for
its natural environment and recreational activities. The
11-member crew and technical sponsors have set up a village with
an educational path that illustrates the project, the idea for
which came while at sea.
"I was traveling in the Atlantic years ago on my boat," said
captain and creator, Victorien Erussard, "and I had a power
outage near Brazil. I had a diesel generator that did not work
and was completely lost, but there was energy all around me:
there was the wind and the sun. I thought it would be
interesting to try to develop a floating 'smart grid'. This was
the origin of the Energy Observer project."
With the help of technical sponsors, including Prysmian for
high-tech cables from the aerospace industry, the
boat-cum-laboratory has an electric motor powered by 141 square
meters of photovoltaic cells and a wind turbine system. This
system was combined with a hydrogen storage system that makes
use of seawater that is pumped, desalinated, then reconstituted
and returned to the sea.
The battery use is thus reduced, making the hull considerably
lighter, using technology that is readily available.
Since it weighed anchor from the French port of Saint-Malo in
June 2017, the Energy Observer has covered more than 7,600 miles
along major sea trade routes and will end its "Odyssey for the
Future" in 2022, when it will land in New York at the United
Nations.
"Most stakeholders in the mobility sector," said the team's
research manager, Louis Noel Vivies, "are moving towards
hydrogen. We all believe that hydrogen is the most natural
evolution after coal and gasoline and it will allow us to go
forward without losing out in terms of performance and comfort
and enable us to achieve zero carbon dioxide goals. We are
bringing our marine culture together with the research and
development of hydrogen industry leaders to develop a simple,
reliable and economical system with many possible applications".
For Marcelo Andrade, head of research and development at
Prysmian Group, "the first goal is to develop technology derived
from the aerospace field and adapted to a boat where there is no
CO2 generation while reducing weight as much as possible."
"For the other important point," he added, "Prysmian will
continue to develop more sustainable products. Here we have an
immense opportunity to show how technology can be applied to
create a 'green' boat."
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