At the stern of a catamaran (the Lagoon 445 “Horizon”), the owners have installed 5 large solar panels with a total peak power of 1700 W. Special about these panels is that they are transparent (solar cells on clear glass). Because of this, they generate energy also on the bottom side: sunlight reflecting from the surface of the water generates energy on the bottom side. This increases the yield by 20%.

To store this energy for self consumption we install an energy storage system with a capacity of 15 kWh and an inverter power of 3 kW at 230 volts in the boat. We choose to do this with minimal modifications to the existing electrical on the boat: the inverter actually replaces the shore power input.

4x (the first 2 in this photo) 24v 3,75kWh MG Energy battery + MG Master LV BMS.

3kW Victron inverter/charger

The solar yield is huge. Everyday at around noon we see a yield of more than 1 kW and in august we see peak power (1700 W) sometimes. In July, they even reached 1900 W!