The first renewable energy and hydrogen powered vessel, Energy Observer, set off on a four-year global voyage from Saint Malo on March 3.
Aboard the boat on leaving Saint Malo in northern Brittany is a substantial team that includes her two historical leaders, the two captains, the ship’s engineers as well as engineers from Energy Observer Developments, who will be present to keep an eye on the setting in motion of all the innovative systems in what still promises to be a difficult sea state as far as Portugal.
In 2020, the ship is planned to cross two oceans and make nine stops, and two of its leaders, Victorien Erussard and Jérôme Delafosse, will help transfer Olympic fire to Japan in early July.
In 2020, it is necessary to overcome 20,000 nautical miles, which almost corresponds to the circumference of the earth. The trip will include stops in Morocco and the Canary Islands, then to Saint Barthelemy in the French West Indies. Negotiations on the Panama Canal with stop in Panama, Hawaii and finally Tokyo, from July 24 to August 9, during the Olympic Games.
According to the captain and founder of the Energy Observer, Victorien Erussard: “These Games, where the dominant theme is hydrogen, will be the opportunity for Energy Observer to bear witness to a series of spectacular initiatives in this direction! ”
After - crossing through the Pacific Ocean to visit California with three major stops along the way: San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.
All stops planned by the ship are associated with innovative cities in the field of new opportunities of waste management on a global scale to document the revolution in the sphere of energy and hydrogen and to meet with a large number of protagonists involved in the ecological transition.
At the moment, the Energy Observer has been further optimized and equipped with Toyota’s new fuel cell, additional solar panels, variable pitch propellers and two fixed Oceanwings. The Energy Observer is powered by a combination of several renewable energy sources and a green hydrogen-based production and storage system.