Monaco Solar & Energy Boat Challenge winners announced
Yacht Club Monaco / Studio Borlenghi
The 7th edition of the Monaco Solar & Energy Boat Challenge, held entirely online this year, awarded three prizes and two “coups de cœur” to innovative yachting projects.
From 30th June to 4th July, eighteen teams representing twelve nations presented their project to a jury of experts in an attempt to win one of the five prizes. The competition aims to reflect and encourage the commitment of researchers, academics, future engineers, inventors and professionals in the yachting and energy industries. In addition to receiving a prize for their project, the winning teams also are awarded prize money. Here is the list of winners.
Advertising
Three prizes, two favourites
The Innovation Prize was awarded to the Técnico Solar Boat team from Portugal. Ranked in the Energy Class category, their concept of a boat powered by hydrogen using a 5 kW fuel cell won over the jury. In the future, the team hopes to produce its own fuel cell and hydrogen using water electrolysis.
The Eco Conception Prize was awarded to the Monegasque SBM Offshore E-Racing Team for its prototype floating system which would enable hydrogen to be produced from seawater, using solar and wind energy. The cockpit structure, meanwhile, is made of aluminium, while more than half of the mass of its structural components comes from simple recycling and reuse.
The Spirit Prize, which can be won by presenting a short video to the panel, was awarded to the TU Delft Boat Team from the Netherlands. This is the team’s seventh Monaco Solar & Energy Boat Challenge. Their “great adaptability and solidarity, especially when the Netherlands was in lockdown and the group could not move as fast as they wanted in their project” is what won over the jury.
Finally, this year, not one but two “favourites” were awarded. The first was awarded to the Indonesian Hydros Team UI for its boat powered by batteries and solar panels. The second was awarded to Hynova, a French team, for its 40-foot prototype, powered by an electric motor, itself powered by hydrogen from a fuel cell supplied by Toyota. The objective of this prize is to promote green hydrogen as alternative energy.
The 8th edition of the Monaco Solar & Energy Boat Challenge will take place from 6th to 10th July 2021.