Here is a question that a hundred years ago, no one would have been able to answer – how does one move a ship that weighs 100 tonnes without any kind of fuel, sail, or slave labor? Well, thankfully technology has advanced to such a degree in this day and age, that a pioneering group of Swiss investors and German engineers have decided to harness the power of the sun, in the form of the MS Turanor PlanetSolar.
Basically, the solar-powered boat known as the MS Turanor PlanetSolar happens to be the largest boat of its kind, and it does allow us to get a glimpse into what the future of marine travel would look like. The whole idea when creating the MS Turanor PlanetSolar was to go around the globe, according to Rachel Bros de Puechredon from PlanetSolar who said, “The idea was to demonstrate the enormous potential of solar power by circumnavigating the globe.”
Of course, the team managed to do so successfully after navigating some 60,000km. Just how many solar panels are required to move such a behemoth? The Turanor relies on over 500 sq m of solar panels in order to power its pair of 60kW electric engines, which will in turn individually drive a standard propeller. With those electric engines, they can push the 35m catamaran to hit a maximum speed of 14 knots.
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