Solar plane's China visit to lift environmental awareness

A man walks past the Solar Impulse 2 during its presentation at the Al Bateen airport in Abu Dhabi January 20, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

The history of the Solar Impulse II dates back to 1999, when Bertrand Piccard, a Swiss scientist and aeronaut, completed a nonstop around-the-world balloon flight.

Piccard promised himself that he would circumnavigate the world again, but this time without fuel or polluting emissions. That in turn led to the Solar Impulse project, which began in 2003.

In July 2010, Solar Impulse I made the first round-the-clock flight without fuel. This year, the Solar Impulse II will fly across the world in 12 stages, with expected arrival in China in April.

Many of the innovative Solar Impulse II technologies can be commercialized to address environmental problems, said Maxine Ghavi, group senior vice-president and program director for microgrids at ABB Ltd, the Swiss power and automation technologies company.

ABB is the engineering partner for the Solar Impulse project. Three ABB engineers have participated in the project, and they are supported by ABB's research and development centers and other colleagues.

The ABB team will take care of improving the ground operations control systems and optimizing the electronic chargers for the airplane's battery systems, among other tasks.

"The two organizations have a common vision. We both believe that it is important to decouple economic growth from environmental impact, by focusing on energy efficiency and renewable energy," Ghavi said.

She said that energy efficiency, energy storage and efficient conversion from renewable sources to electricity are important technologies that can be taken from the Solar Impulse project for commercialization.