Solar Shipping

Cargo Container Ships

On a solar ship - how many solar panels of 20% efficiency can fit on it- using the surface area of the largest container ship [1]. A container ship of 500 TEU [2] capacity costs $10M, and a used one goes for $4M. [3]. Largest container ship is 400x60 meters, or 24,000 square meters. [4]

Small container ships weigh 50k tons. Large ones weigh 200k tons. [5]

Each square meter produces .2kW at best. That makes it 4800kW.

$400/kw. $2M for the panels.

Cargo ship uses 16 tons of fuel per hour. Fuel cost is $300/ton. $38M/year in fuel.

About 8000 hours per year. 16x300x8000=$38M

1 container ship creates as much pollution as 50M cars.

A typical ship has a 9 MW power use.

With telescoping panels, solar can match industry standards.

Night time power - could be addressed via solar hydrogen production.