3 comments so far.World’s largest Solar Boat pays a visit to Malta this weekend
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The Ms Tûrnanor Planet Solar, the world’s largest solar boat ever built will be stopping in Malta for a short visit this weekend while on her “Promotion Tour.”
Planet Solar is the first catamaran to enter the record books after completing a voyage around the world powered only by solar energy breaking 5 records: fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by solar boat and longest distance ever covered by a solar electric vehicle.
Planet Solar is behind many technological advances, especially in the field of composite manufacturing and storage of solar energy. The catamaran is powered by an array of 537 square meters of high efficiency solar cells provided by Sunpower Corporation.
The visit to Malta by Planet Solar is being supported by the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs, the Ministry for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications, Sunpower Malta Ltd., Alternative Technologies Ltd., Sunpower’s Authorised Distributor in Malta as well as Grand Harbour Marina plc, a member of the Camper & Nicholsons Marinas group.
Planet Solar will be berthed at St. Angelo Wharf, Cottonera. The general public will be able to view (not go onboard) the boat from St. Angelo Wharf. The solar boat will leave on Friday, the 10th of August.
For more detailed information on the Tûranor Planet Solar and to track the voyage of the catamaran arriving into the Grand Harbour, please log onto www.planetsolar.org.
I hope a lot of Maltese go and have a look . That is the future also by electric vehicles on shore . Hopefully the ministry will bring out the tender for loading stations and vehicles for the Government ( planning was 2011 ! )
Yes, let’s hope so. This is a major event.
Solar energy is our way out of the actual madness : the destruction of Artica is already planed so we can continue on using petrol for our cars and other “needs” all over the planet. Great !
Unicorns and rainbows….
No matter how much you might wish it otherwise, fossil fuels will not be replaced by solar…it’s main usefulness will be in remote locations with reliable sun, like the deserts…where there aren’t many people to use it…and most of those places tend to have oil and gas beneath them already…cheaper to extract and refine, and they work on cloudy days.
Physics, Engineering and economics will dictate the energy sources, as they should, and Solar is simply not reliable enough or economical enough in land usage to work in a place like Malta….you’d have to pave the whole island with solar cells and hide all that scenic beauty.
Time for you to wake up and smell the petrol.