Background

The story of the Frisian Solar Challenge starts in the summer of 2004. Bouwe de Boer, co-operator of the energy policy of the province Fryslân, thought that what they did in Australia with the World Solar Challenge, was also possible on the Frisian waters.

He contacted Andries van Weperen, organizer of special events at Noordplan, and asked him to develop a plan. Andries contacted professor Wubbo Ockels of the Technical University in Delft. This is how the first plans were made. They all presented the plan in September 2004 at a crowded workshop in the county hall. Everybody received the idea with a lot of enthusiasm and it was upgraded to the level of a full Eleven cities race.

The provincial government funded for setting up an event plan and the Sinneboatrace Fryslân was founded. Electricity company Nuon became the first head sponsor. In May of 2005 the Notice of Race for the first edition of the Frisian Solar Challenge was presented at the Watergate in Sneek. One of the finish places during the race.

In 2006 the first edition of the Frisian Nuon Solar Challenge with 24 participants was a fact. Only four teams finished within 24 hours. In 2008, during the second edition of the race with 39 participants, the organization and the quality of the boats improved. That resulted in 24 teams reaching the finish within 24 hours. The third edition of the race in 2010 got a new head sponsor and the name of the race changed in DONG Energy Frisian Solar Challenge. 43 teams participated and although the race-course became harder by extending the stages, the solar boats were a lot faster. The developments still continue and we expect that in 2012 more solar boats are participating and they will be much faster.

The DONG Energy Solar Challenge, unofficially the World Cup for Solar Powered Boats, or the formula 1 for electrical boating, leads to a lot of technical innovations and economical spin-off. After the first edition minister of Economy Van der Hoeven gave the organization the price ‘Innovative Teamplayer energy transition 2007’. The race also won the ‘European Solar Prize 2008’, which was presented by Hermann Scheer, MdB and president of Eurosolar, in Berlin after the second edition of the race.

The further development of the event is also realized by the stake of a lot of volunteers, employees and sponsors. The Sun Factory and Sharp supply the solar panels for the Challenge classes. Together with DONG Energy, the new name sponsor, they contribute the most.