An all-electric, hydrogen-powered ship is about to journey around the world for the next six years. On this journey, it will visit 50 different countries and make 101 stops, where it will show off the technology it has onboard.

“I have always sailed for the thrill of the competition and today, I have decided to to sail for another reason, out of commitment to our planet,” says Victorian Erussard, offshore racer, Merchant Navy officer, and captain of the Energy Observer.

A 100-foot long catamaran that had a successful racing career before it was converted into a clean-energy vessel, Energy Observer is a $5.25 million ship will use solar, wind, and hydrogen energy to power its electric motors.

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Here’s how the ship moves: There are two vertical axis wind turbines on the back of the ship. Most of the surface area is covered in two different types of solar panels. Along the sides of the yacht are regular solar panels that have been heat-molded to bend and cover the entire surface. Over the back of the middle and edges of the catamaran are bifacial panels, which can absorb the direct sunlight into the top of the panel and light reflected up from the water underneath.

The little sail floating above the boat is a smart traction kite, which creates electricity as it moves up and down in the breeze. The engines on the ship are electric and reversible, allowing them to turn into hydro-generators and gather power from moving through the water some of the time.

Energy is stored in lithium-ion batteries for short-term use, but the main source of energy is from the conversion of seawater into hydrogen fuel. Demonstrating the production and use of hydrogen as a clean energy is one of the main points of the _Energy Observer_s mission.

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المصادر

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