AQUA BILLIONAIRE GATES $600,000,000 MILLION DOLLAR HYDROGEN FUEL CELL POWERED SUPER YACHT 375 FOOT

AQUA 376ft SUPERYACHT

BILL GATES PLEDGES $600,000,000 MILLION DOLLARS TO BUILD A HYDROGEN FUEL CELL POWERED SUPER YACHT

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AQUA is the project name of this 112m fuel cell (hydrogen) super-yacht by Sinot Yacht Architecture & Design and Lateral Naval Architects. She is a ZEWT: (Zero Emission Waterborne Transport).

According to the design studio, AQUA‘s exterior lines are inspired by ocean swells. The sharp reverse bow reminds me of NAUTILUS – the ship in the movie The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. SINOT placed the AQUA room here, like in NATURE – one of the studio’s previous projects. This area belongs to the owner’s area. The designers used curvy lines on the bridge deck on top of the yacht and rear lines of the vessel. The bridge deck also features a helipad.

AQUA has large hydrogen capacity (two 28-ton tanks) for an operating range of 3,750 nautical miles at 17 knots. The proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells generating power of four MW to support the hotel functions and the electric engines (one MW each) with contra-rotating propellers and Voith Schneider propellers. The hydrogen is stored at -253° Celsius.

Has it been sold to Bill Gates? Many mainstream news media reported the sale of a hydrogen yacht to the Microsoft founder Mr. Bill Gates and showed renderings and videos of AQUA. The design studio said that it is not valid. There are no relations to Mr. Gates; the concept is still under development and is a showcase project to inspire innovative clients.

FORBES 9 FEB 2020 - AQUA

Is This 376-Foot-Long, Hydrogen-Powered Concept The Ultimate Sustainable Superyacht?

With multiple media outlets reporting that Microsoft Co-Founder Bill Gates pledged well over $600 million to build a 376-foot-long, hydrogen-powered superyacht concept designed by Sinot Yacht Architecture & Design and Lateral Naval Architects superyacht design and construction may never be quite the same again. (Even if Bill Gates is not connected to the project at all, as representatives of Sinot Yacht Architecture & Design have reported this morning.)

Of course, Sinot’s 376-foot-long liquid hydrogen-powered superyacht concept AQUA received lots of attention when it was unveiled at the most recent Monaco Yacht Show. But the requirements (boundless imagination and serious computing power) for designing a “skies-the-limit-concept-superyacht” are actually quite small compared to finding a pioneering mega-billionaire who has the vision, passion, experience, courage and oh yeah, over a hundred BILLION dollars to build a hydrogen-powered superyacht that has never been built before.

However, it looks like designer Sander Sinot may have caught lightning in a bottle. "With every project, I challenge my team and myself to surpass ourselves,” he explains. “For development of AQUA we took inspiration from the lifestyle of a discerning, forward-looking owner, the fluid versatility of water and cutting-edge technology to combine this in a 376-foot) superyacht with a fully operational liquid hydrogen and fuel cell system that features groundbreaking in technology, as well as design and esthetics.”

That sounds like Bill Gates, right?

COMPOUND CURVES - Such design features are more expensive to manufacture, but in the age of CAD-CAM, nothing is impossible if you have a big enough wallet.

GLASS CAGE - We like this viewing platform, very James Cameron, as in Avatar.

DREADNOUGHT - This view is reminiscent of a British battleship from the First World War.

QUADCOPTER - Short hop taxis like this are almost a reality, with electric flight high on the agenda of may Governments, such as Boris Johnson in the UK.

CAD - Cryogenic storage of hydrogen makes a lot of sense, here linked to a substantial fuel cell stack and then lithium batteries, presumably as a load levelling mechanism for acceleration. It's a real shame the design does not incorporate solar panels, by way of onboard renewables. This can of course be rectified if any potential client wants to reduce running costs.

$650 MILLION - The purchase price is just the entry fee. The cost of maintaining a super yacht like this is said to be around 10% of the purchase price = $65 million bucks a year. Hydrogen is pretty expensive and at the moment you cannot dock at many ports or marinas and fill her up. Hopefully that will change as the shipbuilding industry makes the move to cleaner cargo and passenger liners, ferries and the like.

According to advanced reports, AQUA’s power is fueled by liquefied hydrogen, stored at extremely low temperatures, in vacuum isolated tanks. The liquefied hydrogen is converted into electrical energy by Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells, with water being the only by-product.

The generated electrical energy is transmitted to AQUA’s switchboards, where it’s distributed to provide power for propulsion, auxiliary systems and hotel services. Large batteries buffer the generated electricity to ensure power demands are always met. And thanks to the electric propulsion, AQUA is designed to be extremely quiet underway.

“Imagine AQUA at open sea, moving water with water,” says Sander Sinot “At 17 knots with a range of 3,750 nautical miles, AQUA could be solidly in the forefront of its superyacht peers."

It’s pretty easy to imagine Bill Gates being pretty excited by something like that, right?

And as you can see in the detailed renderings, the design innovations don’t stop in the engine room. The owner’s pavilion that occupies the front half of the upper deck, is arranged in an open-plan area of interlinked spaces, divided by finely crafted wooden screens providing intimacy and subdued lighting.

Floor-to-ceiling windows supply amazing views and ample natural light. The owners bedroom section is located at the yacht’s axis and offers an endless sightline all the way up to the AQUA room at the bow. The owner’s pavilion is completed with a large bathroom, dressing room and an intimate private spa section.

The AQUA room, located at the bow, at the far end of the owner’s pavilion, offers a top-of-the-world feeling and endless views from the best position on board.

Located on AQUA’s beach deck, close to the waterline, the expansive VIP state rooms stand out by virtue of their spacious design and highly elaborate furniture. All the guest cabins are designed for openness, luxury and comfort, providing a maximum sense of freedom in a highly detailed minimalist Japanese beach-style setting.

The indoor health & wellness center is designed with a hydro massage room, a yoga space and workout floor and a massive, gym-wide door in the hull which opens to reveal the ocean’s surface at water level.

Situated at AQUA’s core, the circular staircase is one of the yacht’s defining features, winding down from the top deck to the lower deck where two large liquefied hydrogen tanks reveal their industrial-strength structure behind a giant façade of strengthened glass.

Meanwhile, the distinctive exterior look of the yacht was inspired by ocean swells. The hull is a sculpted, curved and intersected by the glass windows.

AQUA is configured with a five-deck set up while being able to provide those on board with the closest possible proximity to the water. The aft deck features a series of platforms all leading down towards the sea, while a large swim platform allows all AQUA passengers to enjoy the ocean.

Could this ultra-green hydrogen-powered superyacht represent the future of ultra-stylish superyachts?

And can you think of a more appropriate guy to push innovative superyacht design and construction into the stratosphere than Bill Gates?

By Bill Springer - During his previous life as an editor at several American yachting magazines, Bill was lucky enough to sail thousands of offshore miles on a wide variety of boats. His job as yachting scribe has taken him on adventures from the Arctic Circle to the equator, and to nearly every tropical destination in between. He's dodged high-speed hydrofoils on the brown waters off St. Petersburg, Russia, anchored in impossibly blue water off uninhabited islands in the Seychelles, Scandinavia, the BVI, and the Bahamas, and even flown aboard a Jayhawk helicopter with the US Coast Guard on training missions. These days, when He's not traveling or writing about the magic that happens at confluence of superyachts, offshore adventure, luxury travel, and technology, Bill sails his ultra-simple, ultra-fast dinghy, rides his gorgeous and gloriously-expensive carbon fiber bike, and pushes their little one in a baby stroller all over New England.

CNN OCTOBER 2019 - IS THIS HYDROGEN POWERED VESSEL THE SUPERYACHT OF THE FUTURE

The world's first hydrogen-powered superyacht could be taking to the waters in the not too distant future.

Dutch yacht-design company Sinot has unveiled a model for a cutting-edge concept that looks set to propel the superyacht industry in a more eco-friendly direction.

Created in collaboration with Lateral Naval Architects, Aqua measures 112 meters and will be powered entirely by liquid hydrogen and fuel-cell technology - which essentially means water will be its only emission.

The superyacht, which features state-of-the-art facilities, is to operate at a top speed of 17 knots, with a range of 3,750 nautical miles.

"For development of Aqua we took inspiration from the lifestyle of a discerning, forward-looking owner, the fluid versatility of water and cutting-edge technology, to combine this in a 112-meter superyacht with truly innovative features," designer Sander Sinot said in a statement shortly before a detailed model of Aqua was revealed at the Monaco Yacht Show in September.

"Our challenge was to implement fully operational liquid hydrogen and fuel cells in a true superyacht that is not only groundbreaking in technology, but also in design and aesthetics."

Aqua's technology system will rely on two 28-ton vacuum isolated tanks, which are to be stored at temperatures as low as -253 C. The liquified hydrogen is converted into electrical energy by proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells.

This energy will then be submitted to the vessel's switchboards and distributed, in order to provide power for propulsion, auxiliary systems and hotel services.

The exterior and interior design for Aqua, which took developers five months to conceptualize, is almost as impressive as its radical technology system.

Renderings for the futuristic superyacht showcase an on-board infinity pool and heli-pad, along with a spa and swimming pool.

Spread over five decks, Aqua will also has a hydro massage room, a yoga space, a swim platform and a beach deck close to the waterline.

While it's just a design concept at the moment, and there are no imminent plans to roll Aqua out, according to Sinot, the pioneering design "clearly prefigures the superyachts of tomorrow."

The radical vessel design is one of a number of recent developments in the superyacht industry.

Earlier this year Latvia's Latitude Yachts announced plans for the Valkyrie Project, a massive superyacht that would span 229 meters, making it the largest in the world. By Tamara Hardingham-Gill