In Brodosplit, will soon begin the construction of the ‘Electric Sailing Ship’ or the New Building 531, whose electric motors are the main propulsion, It will be the largest zero-emission sailboat with three masts in the world. The Director and owner of the DIV group Tomislav Debeljak came with the idea. The project is a research, development, and construction at the same time, but with the result of the eco-innovation passenger cruise ship for a minimum of 36 passengers.
The largest sailing ship of zero-emission in the world
The length of the ‘Electric sailboat’ will be 63.50 meters. It will be 10 meters wide, 5.35 meters high, to the main deck. The ship will be built on the existing three-masted schooner ‘Klara’ from Brodosplit’s fleet of passenger ships for commercial tourism.
The hull and superstructure will be of steel and the masts of aluminum alloy. The main goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, and noise. When not using sails, the ship will sail by two electric motors, each 150 kW powered by a battery system (as much as 30 tons of batteries and a capacity of a max 2300 kWh). At a speed of 6 knots, it will only need 60 kilowatts, which is ‘feeble’ power for a ship like this. The two diesel units will only be in use only if necessary.
It will sail the Adriatic Sea along the coasts of Italy, Slovenia, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, and out of season the Caribbean islands and other tourist destinations during the domestic tourist season.
The project started in February 2020 and is co-financed by EU funds. The partners of the DIV group are the scientific research centers FERIT from Osijek and from Split FESB. Simultaneously, the conceptual and main project is developing Marine Energy Solutions DIV d.o.o. FERIT designs the storage of wind kinetic energy and battery management, while the FESB in Split is working on a sail automation system, wind turbines, and photovoltaic panels. The ship’s idea is to be supplied with electricity and water from entirely renewable sources without any CO2 emissions.
A 100% ‘green’ sailboat
It will be a 100% ‘green’ sailboat, with no fuel and power costs for the propulsion machines. During sailing, the ship fully charges the batteries but in a specific way. In addition to wind turbines, hydro turbines, and solar panels, a system of variable propeller ships with a special wing geometry will be used, which serves as a hydro turbine when sailing. Thus, it will charge high-capacity batteries and control all information on board from meteorological to battery power, engine operation, solar panels, wind farms, hot water, energy consumption … At the same time, control of all “income” and expenditure “energy on board.
The ship is scheduled to set sail and be in operation by the end of next year.
We are looking forward to its first voyage.
