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themanmaranyesterday at 9:42 PM2 repliesview on HN

Unfortunately, it's not even close. Maybe 1-2% in a highly optimistic scenario.

- 20k square meters of hull space

- If fully covered with solar panels, on a sunny day, you could expect 1-2 MWh (when averaging in night time)

- Current diesel engines typically output 60MWh continuously while underway.

And that's not factoring in the solar panels getting covered in salt over time and losing efficiency. Plus preventing the ship from actually loading / unloading cargo efficiently.

It's not just a matter of panel efficiency either. If we had magic panels that could absorb 100% of the suns power over the 20k sqm deck, it would only equate to about four times as much (8% of the overall power need).


Replies

tshaddoxyesterday at 10:19 PM

Did you mean MW rather than MWh?

show 2 replies
SigmundAyesterday at 10:38 PM

Your math seem to work out, but I don't like the incoherent use if energy units.

60 MWh per what? Per hour? thats just 60 MW continuous POWER or 1440 MWh ENERGY per day.