Press office

Contacts: solarchallenge@ecowiki.it

Some pictures of solar challenges are on Flickr, under creative commons.

Final results Lago Maggiore Solar Challenge 2009

Lago Maggiore Solar Challenge was a really tough race last weekend: we tested the boats in velocity, manoeuvrability and durability. The main difficulty was the “traffic jam” with a lot of speedboats making waves. It was a real challenge for the pilots, not only for the machines they were driving.

Solarteam Maritime Institute Flushing won in his category (experimental boats) and Solarboatteam HZ Engineering should have been second, but they got a problem at the boat before the start of the last race. They raced the same, but the jury did not counted their last result in the final scores, so the second place was won by the boat of Parco dei Laghi di Avigliana. Nessuno (No one) is the name of the boat of Isoteam that won the third prize.

In the efficiency class, only the team “Loda Maurizio & Baragioli Marco” respected all the technical requirements. The jury chose their boat “Briona” as the most environmental friendly, because it was made of recycled materials: aluminum frame came from a old shower box, the engines have been part of two lawn mowers, all the wires were reclaimed from an abandoned building and so on.

The jury let all the others that did not comply with the technical requirements play in the Open class. In this class the winner was the German MBO solarteam, from Berlin. The MBO Solarteam won also the fair play cup.

The last challenge was too difficult for three teams: Gira Sole Art decided not to risk, since their boats reacts very badly to waves, while Briona and the boat of the city of Avigliana asked to race for a shorter distance.

Detailed results are on line, and here some photos on Flickr, Picasa, and Arona nel web.

Before the start of the Lago Maggiore Solar Challenge, the Ispra’ based Renewable Energy Unit of the JRC’s Institute for Energy carried out the electrical performance measurements that concern the photovoltaic generators of the solar powered boats participating. The tests has been performed to characterise the specific current-voltage curve of the whole photovoltaic system.

This is the first time that we organize a solar challenge on Lago Maggiore and we are quite satisfied of the results. We collected a lot of useful suggestions from the participants and we will treasure them for the future. We are already thinking about the edition of 2010 and we expect to see the number of participants double.

Press Release April 15, 2009

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the European Commission’s in-house scientific service and works on complex issues such as food safety, traceability of GMOs, security of energy supply, climate change, environment and health, and nuclear safety. It supports EU policy makers in the conception, development, implementation and monitoring of policies to tackle such trans-national and global problems.

Before the start of the Lago Maggiore Solar Challenge (11-12 July), the Ispra’ based Renewable Energy Unit of the JRC’s Institute for Energy will carry out the electrical performance measurements that concern the photovoltaic generators of the solar powered boats participating. The tests will be performed to characterise the specific current-voltage curve of the whole photovoltaic system.

During the Open Day on Saturday 16 May, the public will have the opportunity to visit the JRC in Ispra and learn more about the research activities. More information and registration about the Open Day can be found on the JRC web site.

Press Release January 17, 2009

On the 11th and 12th of July there will be a solar challenge on Lago Maggiore, in northern Italy. The challenge is between electro-solar boats, i.e. boats that use only clean and renewable energy.

Boats will compete in speed, agility, endurance and design. The race will take place in the south part of Lago Maggiore, on a track of 35 km. Different competitions will be hosted in front of the main cities on the lakeside.

Lago Maggiore Solar Challenge is organized by Parchi del Lago Maggiore, in cooperation with Ecowiki, Gira Sole Art and JRC. The main sponsor is Isofotón.

Ente Parchi del Lago Maggiore is the management authority of 4 natural protected areas, two of them are wetlands on the coasts of Lago Maggiore. The main interest of Ente Parchi in the Solar Challenge is to promote sustainability in tourism and transport. The use of electro-solar boats is an interesting mediation between the main task of protecting the natural environment and the possibility of improving tourism in a beautiful area like Lago Maggiore.

Gira Sole Art is an association with the aim of promoting cooperation between Italy and The Netherlands in the fields of art, sports and culture. Gira Sole Art will transfer the experience of the Dutch Solar Challenges (Zeeland Zonneboot Race and Frisian Solar Challenge) in the Italian event.

Ecowiki is an Italian environmental blog, active not only online but also in the real world, promoting green technology and best practices. Ecowiki is the official media partner of the event.

Institute for Energy – JRC in Ispra. JRC is the Joint Research Center of the European Community, and is active in studying, testing and promoting cutting edge technology that will help Europe develop in a clean and sustainable way. In this event the task of the JRC is to check the engines, the power plants and the batteries of all the boats.

Isofotón is a solar technology manufacturer based in Malaga, Spain, and is a leader solar photovoltaic manufacturer in Europe. Isofotón is committed to producing mono crystalline cells, and mono crystalline is the most efficient solar cell on the market.

Video interview with Norbert Wilms, manager of M.B.O. Solar team in Berlin, during the last edition of Avigliana Solar boat Race.

Be Sociable, Share!