Solar-Powered Catamaran To Sail Veliky Novgorod – Moscow – Astrakhan

The expedition and the EcoWave scientific and technical festival started in St.

Petersburg River Yacht Club. The solar-powered catamaran left St. Petersburg to take the route Veliky Novgorod - Moscow - Astrakhan, according to Elec.ru. It is expected that it will pass more than 5000 kilometres through 20 Russian regions within 90 days.

Catamaran / National Centre of Engineering Awards and Competitions

"This project is aimed at several goals at once. First of all, there has been created a unique high-technology water transport, which can be launched into mass production even in the near future. Secondly, the research and creative potential of the young specialists involved in creating the catamaran was employed. Third, the scientific data that the expedition is about to gather are expected to be of great value. The EcoWave not only contributes to solving both scientific and environmental problems, but also serves as another step further toward the overall prosperity of the country", said Yevgeny Kazanov, the director of the National Centre of Engineering Awards and Competitions.

Most of the components on the ship are made in Russia: solar panels are produced by Hevel (Novocheboksarsk), batteries by Lyotekh (Novosibirsk), and automatics by Valcom (St. Petersburg).