AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS

TONGA - HYDROGEN BUNKERING ROUTE PLANNER

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The Kingdom of Tonga is a Polynesian country and archipelago comprising 169 islands, of which 36 are inhabited. The total surface area is about 750 square kilometres (290 sq mi) scattered over 700,000 square kilometres (270,000 sq mi) of the southern Pacific Ocean. The sovereign state has a population of 100,651 people, of whom 70% reside on the main island of Tongatapu.

Tonga stretches across approximately 800 kilometres (500 mi) in a north-south line. It is surrounded by Fiji and Wallis and Futuna (France) to the northwest, Samoa to the northeast, Niue to the east, Kermadec (part of New Zealand) to the southwest, and New Caledonia (France) and Vanuatu to the farther west.

Tonga became known in the West as the "Friendly Islands" because of the congenial reception accorded to Captain James Cook on his first visit in 1773.

Tonga began implementing  policies to power its remote islands in a sustainable way without turning to expensive grid-extensions. A number of islands lack a basic electricity supply, a supply coming from imported diesel: in 2009, 19% of GDP and 25% of imports consisted of diesel.

In view of the decreasing reliability of fossil-fuel electricity generation, its increasing costs and negative environmental side-effects, renewable energy solutions have attracted the government's attention. Together with IRENA, Tonga has charted out a renewable energy based strategy to power the main and outer islands alike. The strategy focuses on Solar Home Systems that turn individual households into small power plants. In addition, it calls for the involvement of local operators, finance institutions and technicians to provide sustainable business models as well as strategies to ensure the effective operation, management and maintenance once the systems are installed.

With the assistance of IRENA, Tonga has developed the 2010–2020 Tonga Energy Road Map (TERM), which aims for a 50% reduction of diesel importation. This will be accomplished through a range of appropriate renewable technologies, including wind and solar, as well as innovative efficiencies.

Tonga is not hydrogen ready as we write, hence clean fleet operators will have to seek alternative handling facilities to comply with the IMO's 2040 target.

7TH LEG - At a speed of 13 knots the seventh leg of the hydrogen powered zero carbon voyage would take just over a day to complete, free of emissions. The demonstration of ZEWT technology in action, could help speed up the transition to non polluting waterborne transport. These projections are only a guide. Many of the ports of call could be bypassed completely to give us a shorter passage.

SOLAR POWERED TRANSIT EXAMPLES - The above table illustrates one of the most likely climate/ocean awareness expedition routes that could be undertaken by the Elizabeth Swan, showing the time elapsed in days for 7 knots average cruising speed, including times for 5 and 6 knot averages - allowing for 10% downtime and 36 days in ports. Hence, although the objective is to reduce the current solar circumnavigation record from 584 days, the event in not an outright non-stop yacht competition in the offshore racing sense. The solar powered Elizabeth Swann is capable of speeds above 15 knots in the right conditions.

A RACE AGAINST THE CLIMATE CLOCK: The climate clock is ticking faster, speeding up global warming. Solar power is a proven means of traversing the oceans, but it is too slow for cargo transport as we write. But introduce hydrogen into the equation and we can manage up to 4000nm on hydrogen tanks alone. Using LH2, it might be possible to circumnavigate the globe on one tank full - and using solar in combination, travel Around The World In 80 days.  Without hydrogen bunkering at ports and harbours it is more of a logistical challenge. This is a problem for port authorities and operators all over the globe, a topic for COP26 and similar events - as the world continues to fry on fossil fuels.  http://jules-verne.org/   http://jules-verne.org/

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  AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS ON LIQUID HYDROGEN - ROUTE PLANNER

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