It’s the second appearance of these young engineers at the Monaco Solar Boat Challenge. The championship took place on 14-16 July 2016. Even though the podium was in their reach, a technical fault that occurred during the almost three-hour-long marathon had prevented them from further competition. Dutch teams were peerless at the championship, they won both in A and OPEN classes.

From Passion to Sailing

“At the beginning, there was chaos”, said Andrzej Gut, manager of the WUT Solar Boat project, about the inception of the idea of building a solar boat.

The mastermind behind the project was Jakub Batog from the Warsaw University of Technology, a great fan of sailing whose dream is to design boats. However, technical knowledge is not everything. Professional approach to project management was lacking, and it was provided by Karolina Wiśniewska and Andrzej Gut, the current team manager, student at the Warsaw University of Technology and the Warsaw School of Economics.

The next step in execution of the solar boat project, was to obtain funding. The project had been made possible thanks to EU funds, granted under the “Future Generation” programme of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. Next, the young constructors only needed to work extremely hard and tackle challenges awaiting them at each step.

“We’ve assembled a team, but we weren’t experienced, and not everyone knew what this is all about”, said Andrzej Gut about the beginnings of WUT Solar Boat. “The objective was for the first boat to be capable of joining the challenge, we didn’t dream of any huge achievements”.

WUT Solar Boat at the Monaco Solar Boat Challenge

Promoting Renewable Energy Through Sport

The need for yachts powered by solar energy, or at least with such an auxiliary power source, appeared alongside better awareness about environmental protection issues. There is a ban on combustion engines in protected water areas, and sailing boats and rowing boats are not applicable in all conditions. Units with electric motors powered by solar energy from photovoltaic cells have become a new hope. Nowadays, installing such cells in commercial boats becomes even more common.

Monaco Solar Boat Challenge promotes renewable energy sources and innovative technological solutions. Each boat that takes part in the challenge must pass a restrictive technical assessment. The first day of the challenge is home to the most important and the most difficult discipline, i.e. the marathon taking from 2 to 3 hours. “All boats start together, and the race ends when the first one finishes 50 laps”, explains the manager of WUT Solar Boat.

This discipline requires great knowledge and experience from competitors. Conditions are fluctuating, we need to react to situations arising on water. Moreover, the skipper, in case of WUT Solar Boat – Michał Sadowski, is in constant communication with his colleagues on land. Team members, based on information how much energy the battery holds, and how much power do the cells generate, adjust the assumed tactic to the current situation. They also care about the skipper’s safety and, in case of technical issues, bring him ashore.

The next discipline of the challenge is slalom, and the last one is a one-on-one race. Points received in individual disciplines are added, and the challenge is won by the team with the most points.

Something from Nothing

How to build a solar boat? It’s best to start from the beginning, that is – from the hull. The hull used by the WUT Solar Boat team has been tailor-made and became the basis for further actions. Naturally, it needed to be furnished, bulkheads and cell panels also needed to be prepared. The next step was the power supply: battery, photovoltaic cells, which have to provide energy for the engine. The third component is steering. Students have to design and build a cockpit, control lever, throttle. The last important thing is drive. This year, the WUT Solar Boat team has added yet another part – hydrofoils that emerge the boat above the water surface. The Dutch, champions of solar boat challenges, often use this solution.

The six-metre WUT Solar Boat, weighing 90 kg, was the lightest structure participating in this year’s championship. Andrzej Gut also emphasizes an interesting solution to the issue of cell mounting: “The capacity of panels is lower when they get very hot”, he explains. “Therefore, we have mounted them on a special framework, so that they are cooled by the water underneath. Because of this, we were drawing as much as 30-40% more energy than other teams.”

Formula 1 on Water

The best teams participating in the Monaco Solar Boat Challenge are teams with many years of experience. Furthermore, it’s not a student competition, but a fully-fledged sports championship. After this year’s edition, the competitors know that they lack very little in order to join the best.

Despite many tests, construction faults or small shortcomings often announce themselves at the worst moment, i.e. during the championship.

“Despite a huge energy surplus, we had to withdraw for a couple of laps before finishing the marathon”, says Andrzej Gut. “Some electronic parts were flooded. Unfortunately, the bilge pump failed and water level in the hull was higher than we anticipated.”

Students building the solar boat have proven multiple times that they do not give up, and they turn all failures into successes. A year ago, a few days before the competition, they lost their boat in a fire; they were building it for almost a year. Nonetheless, they didn’t give up, and they rebuilt their machine within several dozen hours in order to participate in Monaco.

During the fire, all electronic components were outside the boat, so they were ready to use. The team also had a second hull. They made the rest from scratch, and moulded from parts left in the workshop after they built the first version.

“We Dream about the Podium”

Students working for the WUT Solar Boat team are happy about their machine. “Now we want to achieve reliability”, emphasized Andrzej Gut when asked about future plans. “We need to improve protection, connections, insulation. We won’t change anything about the drive or cells – they work exactly how we want them to. Then, we will spread our hydrofoils”.

The WUT Solar Boat team is still looking for a workshop where they would be able to work on their boat.

Their objective is the podium at the next year’s competition. However, in order to achieve this and dream about future appearances in Monaco, they need new people participating in the project. The team working for the WUT Solar Boat mostly consists of water sports enthusiasts.

“Student projects depend on the determination of a single person, or a group of people”, said Andrzej Gut. “We invite our friends to the team, we want to engage other enthusiasts in our works. We wish for the project to continue, even if we leave the team”.

Monika Bukowska

Office for Promotion and Information