Sailing boat powered by green energy unveiled in France

Enel Green Power is technical partner for the sail boat piloted by the Andrea Fantini Racing team which will take on an ocean crossing as well as partaking in various of the hardest and most extreme races in the world

Enel Green Power and skipper Andrea Fantini, at the port of Lorient, in Brittany, presented the sailboat that EGP equipped with renewable energy generation and storage systems with the aim to run on 100% “ecopower”.
The boat, a 12-metre Class 40, will take part in the Transat Jacques Vabre, the prestigious trans-Atlantic race beginning on 5 November in Le Havre (Normandy) and ending in Salvador De Bahia, in Brazil, for a voyage of 4,350 miles.

As technological partner, EGP provided the sailboat with a mini-grid that combines energy produced by solar panels, a wind turbine and a hydrogenerator, with a storage system; all controlled, remotely, with an energy management and monitoring system. Specifically, 8 solar panels have been installed with a total capacity of around 520 W: 4 at the stern (two 110 W panels and two 50 W panels) and 4 on the deckhouse (50 W each), and a 420 W wind turbine at the stern, in addition to a 600 W hydrogenerator. The generation systems are connected to two batteries with a total capacity of approximately 3 KWh.

Thanks to the energy management and monitoring system installed by EGP, the boat will be able to send back data on energy production and consumption in real time to determine the ideal configuration and help the technical teams perfect and apply optimum solutions.

“The technological partnership with the Andrea Fantini Racing team allows us to make the most of our experience in the development of innovative, sustainable energy solutions and, at the same time, to show the vast and passionate sailing community the enormous potentials of renewables”, said Antonio Cammisecra,Head of Enel Green Power.
“The EGP sailboat will cut through the oceans, bringing the most innovative and sustainable solutions around the world; a true floating laboratory capable of providing valuable information for the perfection of marine generation technologies.”

Following the participation in the Transat Jaques Vabre, Enel Green Power will install on the boat a marine machine, developed in collaboration with Wave 4 Energy (W4E), with the aim of further increasing the on-board generation capacity from renewables. With these technologies, the boat will run on 100% “ecopower,” also thanks to the replacement of the traditional motor with an electric one, which will be paired with a dedicated storage system to guarantee its autonomy. This is the first time that a marine machine is installed on a sailboat; a travelling experimental laboratory made possible thanks to Enel Green Power’s know-how and ability to innovate.

For the next two years, the Andrea Fantini Racing team will be competing on a boat, conceived and designed for single-handed or small crew ocean races, the same boat used in the past by the famous skipper Giovanni Soldini.

Source: enelgreenpower