Solar Cloth:producing power from textiles everywhere .we always need to keep our eye on emerging technologies and how they may relate to our products, both now and in the future. Solar cloth is one such technology that has certainly got me excited. You can see the solar cloth panels embedded in the mainsail of the yacht above, which is ideal as deck area for conventional modules is limited on sailing yachts.

Solar cloth is not just for boats though. Yesterday I spoke to Alain Janet from solarclothsystem.com and learned that it can also be integrated into canopies, to provide power for outdoor events for example or indeed to recharge electric vehicles. Even an awning for an RV or overland 4 x 4 could probably use such a system too.

However, Alain is a sailmaker to trade and naturally it is in that field that his first system is to be deployed, with UK Sailmakers (France). The UK Sailmakers group has over 50 lofts and service centers around the world, so to my mind they are well placed to bring this technology to market.

Below is a press release, concerning these new PowerSails.

SOLAR SAILS TO POWER TRANS-ATLANTIC RACER

Frenchman Daniel Ecalard has entered his Open 50 DEFI MARTINIQUE in the 3,500-mile Route du Rhum from St. Malo, France to Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. His goal: to complete the race with zero carbon emissions. Ecalard plans to carry no diesel for generating electricity in a boat that bristles with electronics that do everything from communicating and navigating to making water and moving the boat’s canting keel.

He will use the boat as a test bed for clean energy solutions. His primary source of power will be solar panels laminated into his Titanium® mainsail to cover all the boat’s electrical needs. The sails are being made by UK Sailmakers France, which has developed the technology for solar cells that can be either laminated to new sails or affixed to existing sails. This exclusive technology is called PowerSails and is being developed by Alain Janet, owner of UK Sailmakers France.

These cutting-edge, light-weight films can generate electricity in low light and indirect sunlight. They are supple enough to handle the sail being luffed as well as folded. The panels will be put in the upper part of the main, above the third reef.

Janet says that the mainsail for DEFI MARTINIQUE is expected to produce on average 500 Watts per hour, budget allowing. Ecalard’s boat was built in 1998 for that year’s BOC race. In 2002-2003, Brad Van Liew won the 50-footer division of the 30,000-mile Alone Around Race by winning all four legs with this boat. She still holds the 24-hour distance record for a singlehanded 50-footer when she went 345 miles in a day. In 2008, she won her class in the Newport Bermuda race. In 2010 the boat starred in the Hollywood movie “Charlie St. Cloud” where Solar Cloth:producing power from textiles everywhere

Ecalard’s ultimate goal is to build a sailing freighter for working the inter-island trade in the Caribbean. For more information about this project go to: http://seafretcaraibes.fr/

Credits

Our thanks to Adam Loory of UK Sailmakers International for the interview and text above, with RDR (Route du Rhum) skipper Daniel Ecalard.

As a footnote, we also wish Alain all the best for his PowerSails project. And if there is a place for Victron to assist, then I’m sure we will as emerging markets and technologies are surely a key to business growth for all. So, if on your Victron travels you too come across something new, that is noteworthy of a post here on the Victron blog, do let us know.

John Rushworth

Working with the charity Assolidafrica 07, a group of teachers and students from the French High School Iscles Manosque have been to install lighting and electricity; computers and a photocopier, in two remote schools in Burkina Faso.

Burkina Faso is a landlocked African country just north of the equator whose 17 million people are spread out over 100,000 square miles, and whose official language is French. The two remote schools to benefit from this equipment were College de Boulma and College de Kapon (440 students) – separated by an hour’s drive through the bush by car.

Being so remote, on arriving the French students confessed that their first thought was ‘What are we doing here? Is this really a school – where donkeys wander in and out, laundry hangs out to dry right there in the grounds, and villagers are pumping water from a well?’ Assolidafrica 07 have been slowly building the schools for five years whilst lessons to classes of up to 100 pupils proceed.

In a project they named ‘Solaire et Solidaire’, as part of their own education the French students, guided by tutors, designed the off-grid Photovoltaic power supply and lighting/electrical systems they would install. Victron provided training and some of the equipment, and the students approached industry themselves for sponsorship …experience which will be invaluable to them later in their own lives.

The project included the installation of high-quality suspended lighting systems, very professionally wired in trunking; fabrication of roof-top mounting system for the Solar Panels; and the technical installation of PV panels cabled to Charge Controllers, Inverters and the Consumer unit (distribution panel/fuse board).

One of the volunteers, Thomas Tsamen commented: We didn’t have all the tools we needed so we figured it out with the means we did have.’ A point which illustrates the double-benefit of this volunteer program; the volunteers learn as they build projects which provide so much benefit for the African Schools. And as for team-building, working outside handling tools and equipment which the sun has heated to 60 degrees has it’s own challenges! They’re harsh conditions in which students and teachers alike quickly learn that diplomacy is the key to the continuance of smooth relations!

Alan Morel and Jean Paul Nabaloum

In traditional African society the Tribal Chiefs are guarantors of customs and habits. They’re the ones who regulate society and decide all matters relating to development and problem-resolution. The chief of Kapon – dressed in the robes of his office – said ‘Studying is what’s going to save us. If we stay ignorant, there is no development …I’m so glad to receive these panels and this equipment which will light our classrooms and help our education.’

The lighting now installed allows the schools to extend their curriculum into the evening. Speaking at the Completion of the work tutor Rasmané Ouedraogo said: ‘I’m speechless really. Students will have light and electricity to study for their diploma. And with the computer equipment we are making a giant step.’ In Burkina Faso, where a Broadband subscription costs more than the average annual salary, fewer than 5% of the population have access to the internet.

The President of the Parents and Teacher association makes the point that the installation takes a big worry away from parents – about how they would afford an electricity supply.

And the principal of the French High School Iscles Manosque, Cyrille Seguin, acknowledging the commitment of both teachers and students who ‘dared’ to bring the project to his attention …and then carry it out, said of his students: They will carry the richness of this experience with them all their lives.

Boulma middle school supervisor Mr. Kabore

Source:victron energy

france

Solar Cloth:producing power from textiles everywhere

Assolidafrica 07 illuminates Burkina Faso with Victron Energy