Solar-powered yachts offer boaters a quiet alternative
Palm Beach International Boat Show begins under sunny skies on Flagler.
WEST PALM BEACH — Weather that organizers welcomed as “magnificent” kicked off the 33rd annual Palm Beach International Boat Show on Thursday with more than 1,100 boats and products on display and some 40,000 people expected to attend over four days.
But the sun, in a crisp blue sky on a 69-degree day, provided more than a pleasant backdrop for Michael Kohler. It was his primary power source.
In a world where wind provided the push for centuries, but combustion engines roar under many an oligarch and weekend angler now, he is pitching solar-powered yachts he hopes will change the way people think about the business.
We’re not talking about a token solar panel to run the refrigerator so the sales brochure can say it’s “eco-friendly,” said Kohler, CEO of Austria-based Solarwave Yachts with a U.S. office in Miami Beach. The solar panels that line the upper decks soak up enough power to cross an ocean with electric motors, though it has a backup diesel generator, too, he said.
Maybe it won’t change the world, “but I can change something in the thinking maybe,” he said.
His Silent Yachts run from 55 to 75 feet, and make no mistake: they require more than a little pocket change to buy at prices ranging from $1.3 million to $3.3 million, according to Kohler.
But the range is as far as sunshine and batteries will carry it, and the cruising is about as quiet it gets, he said. And compared with sailing, it works when there’s no wind, and without the constant adjustment and upkeep of sails.
Anybody buying? The company has sold 13, including one in South Florida, he said.
The company projects sell-
ing about one a month, said Edward R. Sacks, the U.S. distributor based in Miami Beach.
Kohler and his wife, Heike, began researching and testing the solar concepts more than a decade ago, crossing all of Europe by river, the Black Sea, Aegean and Mediterranean in calm and stormy waters alike. Now the company’s offerings are on display at boat shows and silentyachts.us.
On Thursday in West Palm Beach, Kohler pointed out yachts plugged into dockside electric outlets with yellow cables as thick as an arm. Not his. Its electronics, from the helm to the kitchen, run off the solar energy collected in the batteries, he said.
“We can run the air conditioning the whole night without running the generator,” he said.
More than $1.2 billion worth of boats and accessories are on display at the show, which includes live music, seminars, kids’ fishing clinics and other attractions. In terms of wares for sale, “we’re up about 4 percent over last year,” said Andrew Doole, vice president and general manager of global exhibition for show manager Informa. Attendance “looks very strong today,” he said early Thursday afternoon. “We have lines at all the entrances.”
The event, which bills itself as one of the top five boat shows in the country, runs through Sunday.