The Frisian Solar Challenge for boats
from On the Water (260 articles)
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Image Gallery ( 20 images )June 11, 2008 Human beings respond well when challenged and the bolder the challenge, the greater the result. The Frisian Solar Challenge for boats is already proof of this and its second running later this month portends a new age – one of silent, non-intrusive and respectful water-based leisure and a plethora of distributed power generation solutions. The inaugural 2006 Challenge and development funding availability created by progressive thinking in local Government has turned the Dutch province into a hotbed of commercial sustainable energy development. Centred around solar cell pioneer APA, the region has created an event worth travelling for - a week-long solar-boat tour of the region and a most intriguing man versus machine competitions. From June 22 to June 28, Friesland will be home to the world’s largest race of solar vessels: The Frisian Solar Challenge. The race runs along the 220-kilometres-long route of the Frisian Eleven Cities route already famous as the birthplace of competitive skating.
Around 50 teams will start the Challenge, mainly universities and specialist companies from Europe with teams from Brazil, England, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Italy and Poland, though a disproportionate representation from the local area, thanks in part to the success of the first event in 2006.
Participants must complete the 220 km route with its many bridges in six days, using self-developed solar boats – we are seeing the formation of a whole new type of leisure activity, a new means of propulsion for the water, a wide range of distributed power initiatives and, ultimately sustainable electricity-based lifestyle.
The teams overnight along the route, offering a logistical challenge of Formula One proportions for the organisers, but one the 450-person team handles admirably, with plenty of time for festivities in each port of call when the solar fleet arrives each evening.
A flurry of sustainable technology commercial activity in the area followed the first and the second Frisian Solar Challenge will also attract the best brains in Europe and connect them to the Fresian community – by being first mover in an emerging area of great importance, solar and sustainable energy development will thrive in the region – the promotion is an example of international economic development at its finest.
The aim of the organizers of the Frisian Solar Challenge is to connect the elements of the historical Frisian Eleven Cities Skating Race via its participants, (students from universities in the Netherlands and across Europe) to a local network of companies and services and cooperation in developing new applications of solar energy in shipping and in industry in general. The Frisian Solar Challenge is an event, but also a meeting place where the participating teams of specialists from high-tech companies are provided the opportunity to meet the Frisian high tech community and develop relationships – part sporting event, part high-tech networking.
Given Holland’s distance from the equator, it’s also an opportunity to show that solar power is not just relevant to sun-drenched tropical countries – even in sunshine-starved Holland, it’s possible to generate and apply solar power at a commercial level. That fact was indisputably proven by the first race along the Eleven Frisian Cities.
The route for the Frisian Solar Challenge has been lengthened slightly to 220 kilometres since the initial skating race of 1909 when it covered 189 kilometres. Taking the various lengths and times into account, the inaugural 2006 time for the course was almost identical to the time taken to win the first skating race – the Solar Boat team from Delft took the chequered flag in 16 hours 50 minutes and 48 seconds at an average speed of 13.06 km/h whereas Minne Hoekstra 13.50 completed the 1909 course at an average of 13.67 km/h.
It required 15 runnings of the race to push average speeds from Hoekstra’s 13.67 km/h to Henk Angenent’s 29.3 km/h average speed in 1999 – Coen de Koning pushed the average to 19.3 km/h in 1917, and almost every time the race has been run, the winner’s speed has improved. Our bet is that within a few years that mark will be bettered by solar power and human ingenuity – with far greater improvements available in a much shorter time.
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