Solar plane makes maiden international flight

Stories like this sadden me. There are much more worthy causes than this- and I don't mean to knock solar power.

What about the Deltoid Pumpkin Seed? This was a combination airship/airplane which was called an aerobody in the book.  It so happens that a prototype has a series of successful flights but never could get any funding for development of the concept.

The aircraft could take off and land like a plane, but it had the lifting capacities of a large airship.  It seems to me that a aircraft like this could be fitted with solar panels and an electric engine.  It could carry freight and passengers and wouldn't use fossil fuels.  No, it wouldn't be fast, but it would be cheap.  Perhaps passenger service is not the best idea?  Then use it for freight.  It could carry plenty.

The plane mentioned in this article doesn't have any uses that I can find.  Yet it got hundreds of millions of dollars in funding.  What a pity.

Update:
Here's video of it. Why are these people so impressed with this thing? It doesn't do anything.