Solar Impulse flies into a green future
ZERO-FUEL PLANE’S EPIC FLIGHT GIVES A FILLIP TO CLEAN ENERGY AVIATION
Solar Impulse-2 (Si2) will touch down in Abu Dhabi early today, after bringing about a major shift in the world’s perception of the solar plane’s epic global flight that started in the UAE capital in March last year.
André Borschberg, the CEO and co-founder of Solar Impulse, said the successful completion of Si2 will open a window of opportunities in aviation.
“We are happy to see that the aviation sector has launched research on electric motors, which we started 13 years ago for this project,” he told Gulf
News from Cairo. “Last year it [Si2 flight] was understood by people as an aviation adventure. But this year I am happy that it is understood as a clean energy promotion,” Bertrand Piccard, chairman and co-founder of Solar Impulse, told Gulf News.
Borschberg and Piccard said they want to raise awareness of renewable energy sources and technologies with their project, although they do not expect solar-powered commercial planes any time soon.
“There will be passengers very soon in electric airplanes that we will charge on the ground,” Piccard said. “On the ground you can charge batteries and you can have short haul flights, maybe 500km with 50 people flying in these planes in a decade,” he said.
Sultan Ahmad Al Jaber, the UAE Minister of State, spoke to Piccard during the flight. “We, in Abu Dhabi, are all excited about this historic moment. We all understand and fully realise that this leg is incredible and historic for all of us,” Al Jaber said.
“This is the vision of our wise leadership , establishing and positioning Abu Dhabi as the capital of the world when it comes to advancement of renewable energy and sustainability,” Al Jaber added.
After confronting new flight conditions, including high temperatures and upward and downward drafts, the night was turbulent and it was difficult for Piccard to sleep.
Solar Impulse 2 will give a new definition to exploration and adventure when it lands in Abu Dhabi early today, completing the round-the-world flight of the first solar plane. “It will be a big step in human history,” an official spokesperson of Solar Impulse told Gulf News yesterday.
“By flying around the world with no fuel, Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg are demonstrating that, today, exploration and pioneering are no longer about conquering new territories, but about exploring new ways to have a better quality of life on Earth. Solar Impulse’s clean technologies can already be used not only in the air but also on the ground, and have the potential to change individual habits, societies and markets in an unprecedented way,” she explained.
The Abu Dhabi-backed iconic plane’s purpose of promoting clean energy meant a larger mission, according to the Solar Impulse team. The project aims to propagate a ‘clean technology spirit’ that will inspire reengineering everything in life to make it more energy-efficient, and to make the use of renewables more reliable, both technically and economically, in the global energy landscape.
The clean technologies developed by the partners of Solar Impulse, the Switzerland-based organisation, for its groundbreaking solar plane can reduce up to 50 per cent of annual carbon emissions globally.
These technologies can be transitioned towards the successful development of solutions to solve everyday problems. They can replace old, polluting systems, with energyefficient technologies used in electricity networks, home insulation, food storage, automobiles and industrial processes. This clean tech revolution on the ground will be the ultimate legacy of Solar Impulse 2’s solar-powered global flight.
Welcome
Abu Dhabi has geared up to extend a wonderful welcome to Si2. The plane went through a turbulent time on Sunday night on its way from Cairo. After confronting new flight conditions, including high temperatures, upward and downward drafts, and winds in the flight planning, the night was turbulent and it was difficult for Piccard to sleep. But this flight will prove the power of clean technology to change the world; the beginning of the clean technology revolution, Solar Impulse said.
Piccard told Gulf News before taking off from Cairo that this project, for him, will never end. “The round-the-world trip will end in Abu Dhabi but not this project. For me this project means promoting clean energy and clean technologies … it will continue.”
Borschberg, CEO and cofounder of Solar Impulse, said it would be a dream come true for the Solar Impulse team after 13 years of long, hard work. “We worked hard to demonstrate that renewable energy is a feasible option. When we make it possible and prove that renewable energy is reliable for a round-the — world trip, it is a big emotion,” he told Gulf News.
Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company, Masdar, the official partner of Si2, is jubilant about welcoming Si2, after its successful global circumnavigation, back to Abu Dhabi, from where it started its epic mission in March 2015. “The completion of the plane’s round-theworld trip when it arrives in Abu Dhabi will send a powerful message about the viability of clean technologies, and it will inspire the further development of renewable energy in the region and international markets,” Mohammad Jameel Al Ramahi, CEO of Masdar, told Gulf News.