Alappuzha Backwaters To Get India’s First Solar Ferry

Allepey, the Venice of the East, and a favourite tourism spot in Kerala is going to get India’s first 75-seater Solar Ferry, within three months.

• The boat is being built by NavAlt, a Kochi based joint venture, in collaboration with a French company. The Project cost is estimated to be 1.7 crore.
• The boat is 20 meter long, 7 m wide with a maximum cruising speed of 7.5 knots. The best feature is the boat will not make noise. It will be capable of plying 5-6 hours on a sunny day but will also have alternate emergency power systems. It will be deployed by Kerala State Water Transport Department.

Propeller

• Powerful engine with 40 KW power.
• Lithium Battery pack which will be charged on to the normal electric circuit at the end of the day’s journey.
• The boat will be operated in the 2.5 km long Vaikom- Thavankkadavu route.

Advantages

• Building an ordinary boat costs 1.9 crores as against 1.7 crores for the new Ferry
• Cost of operation of ordinary ferries could be 25 lakhs against close to null in case of a Solar Ferry