Maiden fuel-free global circumnavigation shows ABB can power the world without consuming the earth
of a promising new technology called electricity.
As a current global leader in power and automation, we were eager to see whether our technologies and know-how were up to the challenge of keeping a pilot and plane in the air, day and night, with only the power of sunlight. So we joined Solar Impulse in an innovation and technology alliance and got to work.
For ABB, many of the challenges were familiar, such as maximizing the power yield from the 17,000 solar cells that cover the plane’s wings and fuselage.
There was also the pressing need to use energy as efficiently as possible, and to store that energy after the sun had gone down to keep the plane aloft throughout the night.
In preparing for the round-theworld flight and during the mission itself, ABB broke new ground in numerous areas related to clean technologies.
One is microgrids, which are self-sustaining electricity grids powered by solar or wind with battery back-up. They can switch between different energy sources in seconds. Solar Impulse itself is a flying microgrid. In the coming years, microgrids will transform the lives of millions of people by providing electricity access to offgrid communities and enabling industry in places without reliable power supplies.
Another innovation developed by ABB while Solar Impulse was gearing up is a groundbreaking new flash-charging technology, which charges an electric bus in 15-seconds while passengers are leaving and boarding the vehicle.
Known as TOSA, it requires no overhead wires and is the first sustainable mass transport solution that offers a viable alternative to diesel buses. It is about to go into service in Geneva.
Solar Impulse is as much a forerunner of the digital future as it is an ambassador for clean technologies. The flight mission control team relied on GPS tracking and satellite connectivity for its communications, while the plane itself is covered in sensors, providing a steady stream of data on all critical parameters, including the condition of all onboard systems as well as, most important of all, the health of the pilot.
On the ground, similar technologies are enabling the emerging “internet of things, services and people” and leading to the transformation of industry.
Working with Swatch, ABB has developed the first smart sensor solution for electric motors, enabling improvements in energy efficiency, reducing downtime and extending the life of motors by as much as a third. Applied to all industrial electric motors worldwide, the energy savings would be equivalent to the output of 100 large power plants.
By mastering the skies on the power of sunlight alone, Solar Impulse has affirmed the power The author is president and chief executive officer of ABB Group, a $36 billion company specializing in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 135,000 people. In 2014, ABB entered into an innovation and technology alliance with Solar Impulse to support its zerofuel flight around the world.