World's first totally green superyacht

by Nancy Knudsen on 26 Jun 2009 When I see a luxury motor yacht these days, I can't get past wondering how many gallons of fuel it uses for an afternoon picnic.

However, here's a yacht that is, to put it gently, quite different.

Designed and developed by Alastair Callender of Coventry University, this 58 metre, $33 million beauty derives its power from wind, solar and Hybrid Marine Power (HMP) technology from Solar Sailor Holdings Ltd.

Soliloquy is meant both for those who know the sea or are just starting to discover it. It's a real yacht of the future, very skillfully utilizing renewable and hybrid-electric energy with zero-emissions.

The overhead beam is an innovative addition that adds to the looks of the boat as well as houses three automated and pivotally mounted rigid-wing solar sails. The main technology of Sailor Holdings Ltds combines with Callender’s highly efficient design to give you an enhanced yachting experience.

According to Solar Sailor chief executive Robert Dane, the yacht will to store renewable energy in its batteries, which can power onboard electrics without the need or the noise of a generator, and to run at nearly eight knots on solar energy alone. 'You could take 12 people around the world in a quiet environment, with low to no fumes, never have the generator running at night and even feed into the grid at the marina,' Dane says.

Solar Sailor created its first solar vessel in time for the Sydney Olympics and it has been in use since by Australian tourist company, Captain Cook Cruises, as well as acting as its research and development vessel. In November the company will launch the first of four vessels being built in China for the Hong Kong ferry authority, and it is helping design drone vessels for the US military that will use a combination of solar, wind and wave power.

The attraction of the super yacht market, says Dane, is that about 600 super yachts of 30m or more are built each year and a green yacht could be the ultimate statement of sustain ability for the rich. These wealthy clients also tend to be captains of industry who will invest in such technology in the future. The international shipping market is recognised as a highly efficient and crucial transport system for ferrying goods across the globe, but it is also one of the most heavily polluting.

International shipping is estimated to produce more than twice the greenhouse emissions of the aviation sector, as well as substantial amounts of sulphur and nitrogen oxides from the bunker fuel used in the mostly slow-running two-stroke engines. Because of shipping's international nature, and the flags of convenience, ships' emissions are poorly regulated and poorly controlled.

There are efforts announced by the International Maritime Organisation to reduce SOx and NOx emissions, and planned reductions for greenhouse emissions are expected to follow soon. However, emission reduction technologies as they apply to the shipping industry are capital intensive and may increase overall fuel costs, which is why Solar Sails and others are confident that alternative technologies such as renewables will provide the answer.

Dane says the ferries developed by his company can reduce fuel consumption by up to 30%, particularly in areas where the ferry moves at low speed. In Hong Kong, the savings will be greater because at low speed the ferries will be able to travel under silent renewable power only and could approach areas previously prohibited to them because of their noisy, polluting engines. That could cut down routes by nearly one-third.

He says such reductions could be contemplated in bulk carriers and tankers as well. Last year, the company signed a deal with China's biggest shipping line, Cosco, to retrofit ships with solar energyed sails the size of the wings of a jumbo jet. The sails are covered with photovoltaic panels that can meet some of the ship's energy needs and harness the wind to reduce fuel costs by up to 40%.

Sail-World Cruising would like to thank www.ffggippsland.blogspot.com!FFG_Gippsland for their contribution to this article