Turanor PlanetSolar, a sea vessel that has been navigating the world, completed its 19-month mission to circumnavigate the Earth on solar power only, captured with the help of 38,000 SunPower solar cells.
The solar array covers an area of 537 square meters and the panels feed six banks of lithium-ion batteries. On a fully sunny day, they could charge up the batteries by 50 percent. On a cloudy day, they would get only 10 percent of the batteries charged before it got dark.
“ For 8 years we have been working on achieving this world tour with solar energy. If everything goes according to plan, we should cross the last longitude line tomorrow and then reach Monaco, the departure point of our adventure. Friday May 4th, 2012, on this day early in the afternoon we shall succeed in this first journey around the world with solar energy for the first time in history”, Raphaël Domjan, the Swiss expedition leader, yesterday wrote on the fantastic blog that was used to document the adventure.
Congratulations to Raphaël and his crew. May the 4th be with you on this special day for solar power!