MS Turanor Planet Solar, the world’s biggest solar Catamaran that is powered exclusively by solar energy was photographed as it arrived at the Bay of Argolis.

Turanor Planet Solar will be used to locate traces of the oldest prehistoric settlement in Europe. More specifically, the archaeological research being conducted concerns the exploration and the topographic surveying of a prehistoric settlement in the sea area of Hermione in Argolis. Swiss and Greek archaeologists will take part in undersea explorations to look for traces of human activity in an area were one of the most ancient settlements in Europe once existed.

According to the estimates of archaeologists, in the sea area off the cave of Franchthi, dozens of meters below the surface of the water, buried in the bottom of the Bay of Argolis, lie the remains of a city which was inhabited between 40,000 and 3000 BC.

The 31-meter Swiss-flagged catamaran belongs to the Swiss PlanetSolar and is currently used as a floating laboratory of the University of Geneva. The name – borrowed from the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien means the “power of the sun”.

The boat was designed by New Zealander Craig Loomes and works exclusively with solar energy through photovoltaic panels of 5,381.96 square feet, powering with 93 kW four electric motors. At night, it draws its energy from lithium batteries weighing 8.5 tons. In fact it is able to travel for 72 hours in absolute darkness. The vessel launched in March 2010 and in the following September became the first solar-powered vessel to circumnavigate the world in a 584-day journey.