Around the world by solar rays

The futuristic-looking Turanor boasts the highest-quality solar panels on the market. Photo / Supplied

A solar-powered vessel bearing a striking resemblance to Star Trek's Starship Enterprise has spent the past few weeks cruising around the South Pacific.

The futuristic-looking Planet Solar Turanor is attempting to become the first solar-powered vessel to circumnavigate the globe. It is already about halfway there.

Turanor began its voyage in Monaco on September 27. The 31m vessel then crossed the Atlantic Ocean, travelled through the Panama Canal and cruised across half of the Pacific Ocean in just over 200 days.

Its route, which follows, as much as possible, the equator, includes stops along the way to show off the technology which the vessel's backers hope will be a sign of things to come.

At the end of April, Turanor was laying up in the stunningly beautiful French Polynesian island of Bora Bora, undergoing maintenance on one of its propellers.

During this time, the project's Swiss initiator and Turanor's co-co-skipper Raphael Domjan and some of his crew took the chance to holiday in Tonga. While they were there, Auckland journalist Dev Nadkarni caught up with Domjan.

German-based Swedish renewable energy technology entrepreneur Immo Stroher is Turanor's main backer. Stroher bought into the idea because he believes it is possible to achieve commercially realistic earnings over the long term with the type of advanced technologies being used on the solar-powered vessel, according to Domjan.

He has certainly made an impressive investment. Built in Kiel, Germany, and using solar technology components and propulsion equipment sourced from around the world, Turanor reportedly cost US$22 million ($27 million) to create.

It features a 31m wave-piercing, carbon fibre, catamaran hull. Its naval architecture, styling and structural engineering were designed in New Zealand by LOMOcean Design, which was also responsible for the equally space-age-looking and ultimately ill-fated Earthrace/Ady Gil.

There is another Kiwi connection, albeit a slightly more tenuous one: Turanor's name derives from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, where it means "power of the sun".

While Turanor's Star Trek-like appearance attracts most of the initial attention, it is the vessel's huge solar array that really has the power to capture the imagination.

With an efficiency rate of 22 per cent, Turanor's solar cells might not sound very effective, but they are actually the highest-rated photovoltaic cells available on the open market. There are some 36,000 of them spread over a surface area that occupies more than 500sq m of the vessel.

Under ideal conditions, these cells can generate enough power to, through the vessel's twin propulsion systems, drive Turanor to an impressive 14 knots.

That is under ideal conditions, however. As Domjan said, the vessel often has to run at lower speeds, depending on conditions and the intensity of sunlight.

Thanks to an impressive array of lithium ion batteries, Turanor can sail for up to five nights without direct sunlight. And, as Domjan explains, that period can be stretched, if the crew is prepared to drop the cruising speed. Dropping to just five knots means it is possible to cruise for 10 days without recharging sunshine.

Turanor doesn't just rely on blind luck to ensure it has enough power-giving sunlight, either. Equipped with purpose-built weather and tidal forecasting software, which works in tandem with the vessel's geo-positioning and navigation systems, Turanor's skipper and crew can accurately predict the intensity of sunshine for several days ahead.

They use this information to dynamically plot their course to achieve the highest degree of energy efficiency.

Turanor, which has since left Bora Bora and travelled through Tonga and New Caledonia en route to Brisbane, has, according to Domjan, stirred great interest wherever it has stopped to show off its propulsion and navigational technology.

However, he is also keen to stress that this voyage is, in many ways, very much a learning experience.

"So much data is being continuously collected that, when we finish the mission and analyse it, we will be able to decide on a future mission and how it needs to be improved over this one."

Domjan, and obviously his wealthy backer, believe there is demand for a vessel like Turanor, able to travel long distances using the light and power of the sun.

He says governments and private individuals in Europe and the United States have already expressed interest in adding a solar powered yacht to their fleets.

He also says that, provided everything works well, he and his backers can think in terms of a production model.

"And, if that happens, it will be the people of remote tropical islands that benefit the most."

Nadkarni agrees. Those he talked to in the Tongan Government are concerned at the way the spiralling price of oil is rapidly driving up interisland transport costs. They are also keen to investigate any alternative technology that will mitigate this situation.

Indeed, the Tongan Government is taking this issue so seriously it hosted an alternative energy expo in Nuku'alofa. This was designed to coincide with Turanor's arrival and to focus Pacific Island Forum members' attention on alternative energy.

According to Nadkarni, governments throughout the Pacific Islands are closely watching Planet Solar Turanor's progress. In an ideal world, the project will result in the development of a production model that will suit their local and regional transport needs.

Unfortunately for those interested in alternative energy sources here, the solar-powered vessel will not visit New Zealand. After her stopover in Brisbane, Turanor points her streamlined bows back to Europe.

* Dev Nadkarni is an Auckland-based journalist. He travelled to Tonga with assistance from Pacific Islands Trade and Invest, a Pacific Island Forum organisation based in New Zealand that promotes investment and trade in the Pacific Islands.

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