Design Evaluation of 150 PV Boats

In order to evaluate PV boat design parameters, we collected and evaluated the properties of 150 boats for commercial, recreational and private purposes. We evaluated PV boat design problems which lead to recommendations for improved designs of PV integrated boats. Among others, the hull choice may vary for different situations in which a boat is used; therefore a right hull needs to be selected carefully fitting sailing circumstances. From this evaluation followed that PV boats under 10 meters are most feasible to be equipped with preferably low weight PV modules of approximately 2kWp for electric propulsion. From our evaluation followed that most boats are equipped with PV with a surface area between 5m2 and 10m2 (78%). Boat lengths between 4m and 8m are most common (54%). Most boats weigh up to 1000kg (56%). However, a large share of PV boats weighs much more: up to 85 000kg. Best performing PV boats -when considering speed and electrical efficiency weigh around 250kg. The latter have a weight-to-PV-ratio of around 1:2. In general, we notice under dimensioned PV systems installed on PV powered boats. For good performance, PV boats should have a weight-to-engine-ratio between 1:5 and 3:5 and a length-to-beam-ratio between 5:1 and 5:2. In order to further increase PV boat performance, a multidisciplinary design approach need to be developed which does not only take the PV system’s electrical properties into account, but also others, including the PV system’s physical properties.