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https://thedriven.io/2025/08/29/red-dust-road-trains-and-tornadoes-why-the-world-solar-challenge-is-a-real-test/>
"On Thursday this week I was fortunate enough to be in Tarntanya, hosting the
first EV meet-up in Adelaide, sponsored by the RAA. It was no coincidence that
this coincided with the arrival of the first finishers in this year’s
Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in the heart of Kaurna Country.
The Bridgestone World Solar Challenge has been running since 1987, stimulating
innovation in electrified motoring. Teams from around the world compete for
glory in the single-seater Challenger Class and Multi-Seat Cruiser Class, with
a new Explorer Class projected for future events.
Today, teams are typically centred around university engineering departments,
providing hands-on engineering education and experience to students while
providing a platform for testing technologies that will feature in tomorrow’s
EVs. And it is a real test: 3,000 km of challenging Australian roads, red dust,
road trains and, as we were warned this morning, tornadoes.
This 3,000 km journey is a real test. Danny Kennedy of the Global Solar
Council, who spoke at a Smart Energy Council event at the finish line on
Friday, has been following the race as an ambassador.
He highlighted the engineers who were inspired by their work as students and
team members in the race. These engineers include Tesla founder JB Straubel and
Coco Wang, who went from the World Solar Challenge to Tesla and then returned
to South Australia to help build the Hornsdale Power Reserve.
Adelaide is using this year’s Bridgestone World Solar Challenge as part of its
bid to host COP31 in 2027. Should Adelaide win, the next race would finish at
the most important international forum for governments to address the climate
crisis.
The city sees this as an opportunity to promote its vision of a low-carbon
future on a global scale. South Australia is already a state that can meet most
of its energy needs with renewable energy.
In the 12 months up to August, South Australia generated 73% of its energy
consumption from renewable sources within the state; of this, rooftop solar
contributed 23%. There are even days when rooftop solar alone powers the entire
state.
To capitalise on this, the Global Solar Council and the Smart Energy Council
launched their campaign today to install 300 million solar panels worldwide by
2027."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
