The Drift Energy Flying Yacht May Just Be The Future Of Clean Energy

The British firm's hydrofoil sailboat dubbed the "Flying Yacht" recently generated green hydrogen during its sea trials off the coast of England. Drift Energy claims its hydrofoil sailboat is the first in the world to generate clean hydrogen using just the power of the wind while sailing the seas.

The sea trial of the Flying Yacht saw the hydrofoil sailboat flying over the waves off the coast of the town of Brightlingsea in Essex. In a two hour test run, the Drift Energy hydrofoil sailboat generated six litres of green energy, which the UK-based startup said exceeded its expectations.

So how does Drift Energy's Flying Yacht generate the cleanest form of hydrogen - Green Hydrogen? Let's take a closer look at the Flying Yacht and see how it generates the fuel that many claim could power the world in the future.

Sticking to the company's theme of sustainability, Drift Energy's Flying Yacht is a second hand 18 foot vessel which was originally called the Whisper. The 18-foot vessel thanks to its high performance and stability on the seas provided Drift Energy with a great platform to develop and test its Green Energy generation setup.

Built by a Brightlingsea shipbuilding firm called White Formula (who have built Olympic gold medal winning boats), the Flying Yacht can hit a top speed of 25 knots (46.3km/h) while gliding over the seas.

The hydrofoil sailboat features an underwater propeller that spins under the waves when the boat skims above the sea. The propeller drives a turbine on the vessel which generates electricity. This electricity is then used by the Flying Yacht to split water into hydrogen and oxygen using electrolysis. The resultant green hydrogen is stored while the oxygen is vented out.

Helping the Flying Yacht find the best 'windy routes' to help it generate green hydrogen is a clever routing alogrithim developed by AI firm Faculty that analyses sea conditions and weather forecasts to optimise the path of the boat across the sea in real time. This helps the Flying Yacht utilise the winds to their fullest to ensure the highest possible generation of green hydrogen.

Drift Energy claims that as per its calculations, a fleet of its ships sailing from New York in the United States to Penzance on the western coast of the United Kingdom could achieve a load factor of more than 72 percent. This makes the firm's yacht a whole lot more efficient than wind turbines used in the United Kingdom. Onshore wind turbines in the UK have a load factor of 26.5 per cent while the offshore wind farms raise that to 39 per cent.

With the concept Flying Yacht proving to be successful on the seas, Drift Energy plans to continue sea trials and will continue with its plans to increase the number of ships that can help generate green hydrogen. The company has plans to use its tech on larger boats including a 130 foot (40-metre) yacht which it claims could produce as much as 250,000 litres of green hydrogen per hour.

Thoughts On Drift Energy's Flying Yacht

Drift Energy has shown that producing green hydrogen can be done in big numbers especially when you have the right tech and minds behind the project. With a fleet of its flying yachts skipping across the seas, Drift Energy could supply almost any place connected to the seas with clean, zero-emissions, green hydrogen. This is something we really hope does come become a reality soon as it could help cut down the world's reliance on battery packs that while great at storing energy require the mining of metals which are anything but friendly to the environment.