Goal: power sustainable navigation
Key to our economy and the planet’s lungs, the ocean covers 70% of the Earth and produces 50% of its oxygen. Facts that make us realise the urgent need to protect it. All year round, Monaco Energy Boat Challenge contestants and the yachting industry work together to re-design the face of the industry to help achieve this. It is by exploiting all avenues of maritime innovation that a new chapter will be written in the luxury yacht sector.
Technology applied on all levels
This week is also a chance to see other new technologies in action, for example the flexible solar fabric (Solar Cloth), recently acquired by YCM as part of its sustainability approach to optimise energy usage linked to nautical events. Placed on a battery pack, the system produces electricity that is fed back into the YCM grid, like that generated by floating solar panels installed in a partnership with gas and electricity company, SMEG. Meanwhile, a pontoon producing green hydrogen from renewable energy sources will be moored in the YCM Marina thanks to SBM Offshore whose SBM E-Racing Team will be refuelling their boat from this facility. Still on hydrogen, EODev will demonstrate the 100kVA electro-hydrogen zero emission GEH2 generator.
Job forum : in the search for young talent
As part of the collective ‘Monaco, Capital of Advanced Yachting’ umbrella to position the Principality as a centre of excellence in this industry, the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge organisers have been running a Job Forum since 2019. It is proving once and for all how the yachting industry generates jobs. Since the first year, around 20 young people have either had an internship or employment at companies in the sector.
Three categories on the start
Sixteen teams from 11 nationalities are competing in the Energy Class for which organisers supply a one design catamaran hull to competitors who must select an energy solution and design an emission-free propulsion system. The one major constraint is the maximum quantity of energy they can use, set at 10kWh for this edition, and they have to design a high-performance cockpit in a sustainable way that optimises the life cycle of all the materials.