The world shall soon lose one of its oldest jokes that said “useful as deckchairs on a submarine”. Don’t worry, it shall earn it’s first solar submarine in return. A Swiss company by the name of BKW FMB Energie is working on Project Goldfish that has actually developed a solar powered submarine that will run on a floating solar array. This will help save power especially on the trips to the shore for recharging.

It looks like a water-lily and is made up of a central covered hub that can function as a conference and is surrounded by 5 pontoons that too come fitted with solar panels. Spread acoss 300 square meters, the solar panels will generate 30 kilowatts of electricity.

Most of eneregy generated will be used to maintain the position of the platform via GPS, the remaining will power applications on the Lake Thun’s shore and recharge the submarine.

The submarine in reference will be 30 meter long, 10 meter high and will weigh up to 80 tonnes. It will be able to accomodate 24 people who will be able to see the world below Lake Thun for a longer time. BMK is planning to extend the projec to the Sydney Harbour too.

Via energymatters