Solar-powered floating home in Portugal generates a year’s worth of energy in just six months

An off-grid adventure awaits daring couples on the Floatwing, a floating romantic getaway for two.

Portuguese design firm Friday developed the beautiful self-sufficient home, which was created with a focus on energy efficiency and environmentally friendly materials. The eco-conscious Floatwing boasts a small environmental footprint and can produce up to 100 percent of its annual energy needs over six months.

Friday offers four different models for Floatwing, each providing different levels of autonomy depending on the type of installed equipment. The best-outfitted Floatwing is for off-grid applications and relies on solar energy, a wastewater treatment plant with advanced tertiary treatment, a mini supply water treatment plant, and stored fuel to achieve self sufficiency. In addition to renewable technologies, Floatwing’s carbon footprint is further reduced through the use of “low environmentally impactful materials.”

The Floatwing is made up of two levels: the long floating deck and the accessible upper deck that doubles as a roof. The glass-clad daylit living area is lined with wood and includes a fully equipped kitchen, heat pump, AC generator, barbecue on the upper terrace, a wine cellar, and zero to three bedrooms depending on the model selected. The windows can be opened in the summer for natural ventilation, while a pellet stove keeps the space warm and toasty in winter.

While the structure has a six-meter-long fixed width, the house can be customized from 10 meters to 18 meters in length. The modular Floatwing neatly packs up into two standard shipping containers and can be shipped to almost anywhere in the world. Two small outboard motors let users steer the floating home across the waters at a moderate speed of three knots (approximately three miles per hour).

“For six months of the year, between April and September, the floating house does not need any kind of refuelling or maintenance,” writes Friday. “This period of autonomy can be extended to one year with just some stored fuel and bags of pellets.”