Bill Gates orders superyacht

Bill Gates has ordered the world’s first hydrogen-powered superyacht, worth an estimated $644m and featuring an infinity pool, helipad, spa and gym.

The billionaire co-founder of Microsoft has commissioned the Aqua ship – a 112-metre  luxury vessel completely powered by liquid hydrogen – which was publicised last year at the Monaco yacht show by the Dutch design firm Sinot.

The boat has five decks and space to accommodate 14 guests and 31 crew members. 

Its most cutting-edge feature is below decks - two 28-ton vacuum-sealed tanks that are cooled to -253C and filled with liquid hydrogen, which powers the ship. 

The vessel will take to the seas in 2024. It will be able to the potential to travel 6,035 kilometers (or roughly London to New York) before it needs to refuel. The boat will  have a “diesel back-up” due to the scarcity of hydrogen refuelling stations.

Gates, 64, who is currently ranked as the world’s second-richest man with a $118bn fortune, is a regular superyacht holidaymaker who has not previously owned his own vessel. Typically renting yachts for his own use, in the past he has holidayed off the coast of Sardinia onboard the $330m yacht Serene, which is owned by the Stolichnaya vodka magnate, Yuri Scheffler.

The investment underlines Gates’s long-standing interest in alternative fuels, and his enthusiasm for new technology.

He is an investor in Heliogen, a Californian startup that aims to turn sunlight into a source of heat exceeding 1,000C that could help replace fossil fuels. It is the first company in the world to concentrate sunlight to reach temperatures that are high enough to power heavy industry without carbon emissions.

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Article from The Guardian (Edited)