Why A Pioneering Feat Of Aviation Shows How Solar Energy Really Can Take Flight

Rome, as they say, wasn't built in a day – and Solar power, too, has faced its challenges in becoming an accepted, affordable solution for Kiwi households.

At Harrisons Solar, we work alongside the pioneers of the industry every day – companies such as Tesla, LG and SolarEdge – and we recognise the energy and investment required to push boundaries when it comes to clean, green, renewable power.

New Zealand has boldly committed to spending time, energy and investment ensuring we produce 100% renewable energy by 2035 and zero carbon emissions by 2050. But if you want proof that achieving these goals is going to be much harder than setting them, then the recent visit to New Zealand of two documentary filmmakers is a salutary lesson.

Filmmakers, Quinn Kanaly and Noel Dockstader, came to New Zealand ahead of screenings of their film The Point of No Return at the Doc Edge Festival in Auckland and Wellington.

Their film is centred around the first Solar-powered flight around the world aboard Solar Impulse 2 – a paper-thin, carbon fibre and fabric aircraft that weighs about the same as a family car, has a wingspan of a 747 jet and is covered in more than 17,000 Solar cells.

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