In 2018, Lyall Burgess and wife Katie started a business called Sun Powered Yachts. The original idea came to them in Tahiti, where the couple had chartered a yacht to explore the French Polynesian island. As Lyall Burgess tells the story, “We were on a charter boat in Tahiti and we were having to run the engine four hours a day to keep up with the fans and the refrigeration. And you’re in this beautiful anchorage, sunshine all day, and have to listen to this engine because the yacht didn’t have any solar panels. So, it kind of all happened at the same time. We found out about these panels, the opportunity was there, we just went for it and created Sun Powered Yachts … and it’s grown ever since.”
A skipper’s view of the PV array integrated in a Silent 60 yacht, the world’s first solar powered yacht, according to the luxury boatbuilder Silent Yachts.
Image: Silent Yachts
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