The Energy Observer is much more than a sailing vessel - it's a floating green energy laboratory and smart grid that demonstrates the possibilities of a greener future for marine transportation.

On Monday, 12 June, a zero-emission, hydrogen-powered catamaran docked at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town offering South Africans a glimpse into the future of energy and sustainable mobility.

The vessel is called the Energy Observer and it is more a floating laboratory than a sailboat. It is also a tangible example of how innovative technologies can be integrated to create a self-sufficient and emission-free vessel. The designers say they aimed to prove that "entirely decarbonised, decentralised and digitised energy is possible".

Launched in Saint-Malo, France in 2017, the Energy Observer has clocked more than 50,000 nautical miles and visited over 40 countries with some 80 stopovers, from St Petersburg to Singapore.

The Energy Observer is 31m long and 13m wide with a 2.2m draft. The vessel weighs 34 tonnes and has a hydrogen capacity of 62kg. It combines technologies from generation to storage using solar, wind and hydropower as well as batteries and hydrogen.

"Her electric propulsion is powered by renewable energies, including sun, wind, and hydropower. But what makes her unique is her ability to store energy in the form of hydrogen produced from seawater, a technology that allows her to navigate in total autonomy," said Victorien Erussard,...