Aussies Show Off Their Solar Ferryboat

The next big new thing on San Francisco Bay may be a ferryboat powered by electricity, the sun and the wind.

A prototype of the boat, called the Solar Sailor, is in operation in Sydney harbor in Australia.

“The operators love it, the passengers love it, and it produces zero water pollution,” said Robert Dane, a physician and sometimes yachtsman who invented the solar panel wing device that is the heart of the boat.

The solar wing, which can move up, down and sideways, collects sun power, which is then transferred to batteries that power the boat’s electric motor.

Solar isn’t the whole show — the sun only produces 24 horsepower, enough to run the boat at about 5 knots. For extra power, the boat’s generator can run on LPG gas, and the wings can be used as sails.

San Francisco Chronicle