Planet Solar nears the end

Dag Pike writes: The 35m long Planet Solar set out from Monaco in September 2010 and is scheduled to arrive back in Monaco in March 2012 after a voyage that has included call at ports in the US, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, India and the Arabian Gulf.

Planet Solar is based on a wave piercing catamaran hull design by Craig Loomes Design and is constructed mainly from advanced composites. It is powered by four electric motors totalling 120kW and these motors drive large 2m diameter slow-turning five-bladed carbon fibre propellers to give a maximum speed of 11knots. The solar panel array on the top of the vessel extends to 537m² with fold out side panels to extend the area when at sea. These supply power to a large bank of lithium-ion batteries that have sufficient capacity to keep the vessel sailing during the hours of darkness when no power is generated.

After leaving the Arabian Gulf the location of the vessel has been kept secret to avoid problems from pirates. A spokesperson for the project said that the vessel was too slow, with its average speed of around 5knots, to join one of the protected convoys passing through the pirate region so they were forced to keep the location secret in the hope of avoiding detection by pirates.

After navigating the Red Sea and passing through the Suez Canal the vessel is expected to arrive in Monaco to a huge reception. On the voyage the vessel has sailed over 22,000 nautical miles. The project was recently awarded a special environmental prize by the Union Internationale Motonautique at its annual gathering in Monaco.