With more work, solar is the future

Solar Impulse 2’s successful flight to Hawaii proves that solar energy has great potential

Solar Impulse 2 airplane prepares to land at Kalaeloa airport after flying non-stop from Nagoya, Japan in Kapolei, Hawaii in July 3, 2015. Reuters

When the Wright brothers began their experiments with flight, no one could have imagined that years later air travel would become thoroughly routine. To be successful, the brothers had to overcome numerous hurdles. When no manufacturer could supply them with an engine light and powerful enough to propel them into the air, they built their own. By doing so, they changed history.

Now, with the record-breaking Solar Impulse 2, history is being written once more. As The National reported yesterday, the aircraft completed the most difficult leg of its journey around the world on Friday when it successfully landed in Hawaii after crossing much of the Pacific. Swiss explorers Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, the driving forces behind the project, have effectively succeeded in creating the first plane capable of perpetual flight.

The flight was made possible after years of hard work, research and development. However, it’s also important to note that this is just the start of a much longer journey. More work needs to be undertaken to develop solar flights that are currently impractical due to the slow travel time, unpredictable weather and weight constraints of the aircraft.

The focus should now be on reducing the weight of solar-powered aircraft and improving speed in the air. Another area to improve is the power storage system. Batteries are not yet efficient enough to allow solar power to compete with fossil fuels. Their cost remains relatively high and they store limited amounts of energy.

But the good news is that research is already underway at Masdar Institute and, indeed, elsewhere to develop more advanced solar energy storage. While this research may not yet have yielded any new advances for solar aviation, the Institute’s focus on sustainable energy systems is likely to throw up new lines of development to pursue.

The history of flight tells us that there are always new technologies that can lead to the next “big thing”. Solar Impulse 2’s journey around the globe will end soon, but the journey towards universal fuel-less flights continues apace.