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Green-powered boat readies for round-the-world voyage

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Hélène Duvigneau, Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/news-special1/world/9/12/solar-impulse-091216.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc"><em>Photo from Solar Impulse website</em><em> </em></div></figcaption></figure></div><p>Dubbed the &quot;Solar Impulse of the Seas,&quot; the first boat to be powered solely by renewable energies and hydrogen hopes to make its own historic trip around the world.</p><p>A water-borne answer to the Solar Impulse -- the plane that completed its round-the-globe trip using only solar energy in July -- the Energy Observer will be powered by the Sun, the wind and self-generated hydrogen when it sets sail in February as scheduled.</p><p>The multi-hulled catamaran is in a shipyard at Saint-Malo on France&#x27;s west coast, awaiting the installation of solar panels, wind turbines and electrolysis equipment, which breaks down water to produce its component elements, hydrogen and oxygen.</p><p>&quot;We are going to be the first boat with an autonomous means of producing hydrogen,&quot; says Frenchman Victorien Erussard, who is behind the project -- confidential until now -- with compatriot Jacques Delafosse, a documentary filmmaker and professional scuba diver.</p><div><strong>- Sun, wind, hydrogen -</strong></div><p>The plan is for the boat&#x27;s batteries, which will feed the electric motors, to be powered in good weather by solar and wind energy, explains the 37-year-old merchant navy officer with a smile.</p><p>&quot;If there&#x27;s no Sun or wind, or if it&#x27;s night, stored hydrogen -- generated by electrolysis powered by the solar panels and two wind turbines -- will take over,&quot; he says. </p><p>As a result, the vessel&#x27;s trip will not use any carbon-emitting fossil fuels, as is the case for 96 percent of boats today.</p><p>The vessel itself has a storied past.</p><p>The catamaran won the Jules Verne trophy, for a team sailing non-stop round the world, in 1994. It was bought for 500,000 euros ($562,000) and extended by a whopping six metres, to 30.5 metres (100 feet), for the project.</p><p>One of the backers of the endeavour is well-known French environmentalist Nicolas Hulot.</p><p>&quot;I support it because it&#x27;s the first project of this kind to actually be undertaken, it&#x27;s ambitious and looking toward the future,&quot; Hulot, a former special envoy on environmental protection to President Francois Hollande, told AFP.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s very promising for marine transport,&quot; Hulot added. &quot;The Energy Observer is going to demonstrate that you can have great autonomy (at sea) and you can store and find energy when there isn&#x27;t any more wind or sun.&quot;</p><div><strong>- &#x27;Great challenge&#x27; -</strong></div><p>The Energy Observer was designed in partnership with a team of naval architects and the CEA-Liten research institute in the French city of Grenoble, which is dedicated to renewable energy technologies.</p><p>At a total cost of 4.2 million euros ($4.72 million), the green energy boat will be fitted with sensors to act as veritable moving laboratory for CEA-Liten, whose director Florence Lambert describes the project as a &quot;great challenge&quot; to take on.</p><p>&quot;Energy Observer is emblematic of what will be the energy networks of tomorrow, with solutions that could even be used within five years,&quot; says Lambert. </p><p>&quot;For example, the houses of tomorrow could incorporate a system of hydrogen storage, which is produced during the summer months and then used in the winter.&quot;</p><p>The head of the project at CEA-Liten, Didier Bouix, adds that hydrogen can store &quot;20 times more energy&quot; than conventional batteries.</p><div><strong>- Six-year world tour -</strong></div><p>Energy Observer&#x27;s world tour is expected to take six years. After a careful crossing of the Mediterranean, the catamaran will venture out into the Atlantic and then Pacific oceans.</p><p>In all, 101 stopovers are planned from Cuba to New Caledonia to Goa on India&#x27;s west coast.</p><p>There are still hurdles to overcome, not least in funding: the Energy Observer&#x27;s trip is expected to cost a minimum of four million euros a year, notably to develop a traveling exhibition. </p><p>But the team says it is confident of getting the funds. </p><p>And once again it finds inspiration from its airplane mentor Solar Impulse -- which flew around the world on renewable energy and accomplished &quot;what everyone said was impossible,&quot; said Delafosse.</p><div><strong>© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse</strong></div>

<p>Dubbed the "Solar Impulse of the Seas," the first boat to be powered solely by renewable energies and hydrogen hopes to make its own historic trip around the world.</p>

Dubbed the "Solar Impulse of the Seas," the first boat to be powered solely by renewable energies and hydrogen hopes to make its own historic trip around the world.

Green-powered boat readies for round-the-world voyage

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Green-powered boat readies for round-the-world voyage

Hélène Duvigneau,

Agence France-Presse

Published September 12, 2016 12:05 PM PHT

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Solar Impulse of the Seas

voyage

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