Tamil Nadu’s first solar-powered boat will soon operate at the Manimuthar Dam in Tirunelveli district. According to sources at the Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, the boat will begin operations in the next 10 days.

On Friday, Anand Mahindra, chairman of the Mahindra Group, posted a tweet saying, “Mahindra Marine proudly joins #Go Electric – Go Green objective of the group by launching its first solar-electric boat for Tamil Nadu Forest Dept. She is a 24 pax harbour cruise boat, powered by a keel cooled electric motor with shaft, and propelled by a lithium-ion battery.”

Called Mahindra Odyssea, the 26-seater (including two crew members) boat is 11.8 m long and 4 m wide. One of its unique aspects is that it has a German motor (20 KW).

“It has a solar roof on top which can generate 3.8 KW of power. The solar roof will help the boat get partially charged while moving,” said Hiten Ghelani, chief executive officer and managing director of Mahindra Marine, told The Hindu.He said the idea was devised during a visit to Dubai and Europe.

“We started developing the boat and when we were ready with the first one — we received a tender from Tamil Nadu for a similar boat. We asked the team to visit us to try this boat and they came down,” Mr. Ghelani said. To a question on the cost of the boat, he said, “I won’t be able to give the exact details. On an average these boats would cost anywhere between ₹80 lakh and can go up to a crore. These can be customised depending on what the client wants,” he added.

Sources said that two more boats would be supplied in the coming days.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Tamil Nadu / by P Sudhakar & Sangeeta Kandavel / Chennai – Tirunelveli, April 13th, 2019