The boat will sail the seas using only renewable energy and hydrogen. Energy Observer has already been dubbed the Solar Impulse of the seas.
It will travel using the sun, the wind and the energy provided by hydrogen: Energy Observer, the eco-friendly catamaran created by converting one of the fastest vessels ever built. Thirty metres long and 12.80 metres wide, it will have a surface area of 130 square metres of solar panels, two vertical wind turbines and a system for desalinating seawater and producing hydrogen through electrolysis.
The boat will set sail from France, where it is currently in the final stages of completion, before crossing the seas and calling at 101 ports in 50 countries. "Energy Observer is the world's first hydrogen catamaran. What makes this boat special is that it runs on a mix of renewable energies such as wind, sun and water," explains Jerome Delafosse, expedition director and captain, in the presentation video.
An energy self-sufficient boat to demonstrate that "these technologies could also be used on land, in buildings, schools and hotels," Delafosse continues.
The vessel's voyage, which will last around six years, will thus be powered exclusively by renewable energy. During the day, sun and wind; at night, hydrogen will supply the necessary energy. "Instead of batteries, we will fill high-pressure hydrogen tanks that we will use to activate the fuel cells and produce electricity," Delafosse explained to the Tribune de Geneve.
Designed in collaboration with a team of naval architects and the CEA-Liten research institute in the French city of Grenoble, the catamaran cost 4.2 million euros.
"Energy Observer is an emblematic example of what tomorrow's energy networks will look like, with solutions that could also be deployed within five years," said Florence Lamber, director of the French research institute, to the Guardian. "For example, the homes of tomorrow could incorporate a hydrogen storage system, produced during the summer months and then used during the winter."
After PlanetSolar, the solar boat covered with 500 square metres of photovoltaic panels, it is now the turn of Energy Observer, the world's first hydrogen catamaran.
