Galapagos Cruise Operator to Use Solar, Wind Energy

Ecoventura, a small-ship expedition company in Guayaquil, Ecuador, has invested $100,000 to install 40 solar panels and two wind turbines on the upper deck of the Eric, one of its four motor yachts that cruise the Galapagos Islands.

The company hopes to implement the hybrid energy system on its entire fleet by 2011.

The company’s goal is for the solar panels and wind-powered generators to produce about 17 percent of the energy formerly produced by two fuel-based generators.

The work on the Eric started in October 2008 and was financed through a partnership with Toyota, according to Ecoventura.

Ecoventura was founded in 1990 in and has sales offices in Miami and Quito, Ecuador. The company’s fleet includes three expedition vessels –identical 20-passenger motor yachts with 10 double cabins- and the Sky Dancer, a 16-passenger vessel offering weekly, seven-night itineraries to the northern islands of Wolf and Darwin.