The biggest limitation to solar powered vessels is the surface area that you can reasonably collect solar energy from. As someone recently discussed on this board, power boats will typically have power requirements that are much higher than auxiliary sailboats.
For the sake of the conversation, lets say that you find a drive system that meets your specs, comprised of two 10 Kw drives. The amount of energy in sunlight hitting the surface of the earth is about 1 Kw per square meter. Photovoltaic panels are now reaching approximately 25% efficiency, but many are less. So a generous estimate is 4 square meters of panels to generate 1 Kw. To collect enough electricity in a day to drive a boat for 1 hour at 20 Kw, one would need 3.33 Kw of panels which would be 13 square meters or 10' x 15' of panels. These figures are theoretical and do not factor in any losses for charging, storage or operational efficiencies, so in practice, the panels would have to be considerably larger.
House boats or pontoon boats that run much slower and have flat roofs that cover most of the footprint of the hull can almost operate under solar power. The solar land racers in Australia succeed by reducing their power requirements to almost nothing. Pushing a big displacement boat at 10 knots takes considerable energy. More batteries make the problem worse by increasing the power requirements.
It all comes down to math, balancing the energy needed with the available energy.
Fair winds,
Eric
Marina del Rey
--- In electricboats@
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> SOLAR / DC is the way I am looking to go on my 36 to 40 foot, twin screw, fiberglass live aboard Project. (Just started looking for the boat having made up my mind on propulsion) Solar panels to power battery chargers. Replacement of fuel tanks and engines, with Batteries and DC motors. SOLAR Panels will be mounted on the fore deck and bridge. Diesel Generator for power back-up and emergency power. 10 Knots should be fine on battery power.
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> Having 6 years in the US Coast Guard, CG Certified Marine Drill Conductor, Commercial Fishing boat Captain for over 25 years, from Maine to Texas, I have retired. :D
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> 48 volt or 96 volt? motor size will determine the voltage?
> Gel or Sealed?
> There will be enough room for 16 to 20 ,estimated, D-8 size batteries. (Fuel tank replacement space) Judging by the motor size, I should have room for a motor the approx size of a small V-8.
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> Any help? Thanks Rocco
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