Many countries and territories have installed significant solar power capacity into their electrical grids to supplement or provide an alternative to conventional energy sources. Solar power plants use one of two technologies:
Spain is one of the first countries to deploy large-scale solar photovoltaics, and as of 2018, is the first country for concentrated solar power (CSP) in the world.
The Waldpolenz Solar Park is a 52-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic power station built by German developer and operator Juwi at a former military air base near Leipzig, Eastern Germany. When completed by the end of 2008, it was the world's largest thin-film solar park using CdTe-modules.
The Erlasee Solar Park, or Solarstrompark Gut Erlasee, is an 11.4 megawatt (MW) photovoltaic power station located in Bavaria, southern Germany, in one of the sunniest regions of the country. Constructed on a former vineyard by the company Solon SE in 2006, it was then the world's largest photovoltaic power station.
Beneixama photovoltaic power plant is a 20 MW photovoltaic power plant located in Beneixama, Spain. The plant consists of approximately 100,000 solar panels, encompassing an area of approximately 500,000 m2. The panels are City Solar PQ 200 modules made of polycrystalline silicon solar cells. In addition, 200 units of Siemens photovoltaic inverters "Sinvert Solar 100 Master" were installed.
The Olmedilla Photovoltaic Park is a 60-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic power plant, located in Olmedilla de Alarcón, Spain. When completed in July 2008, it was the world's largest power plant using photovoltaic technology.
The Lieberose Photovoltaic Park is a 70.8-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic power plant in Lieberose, Brandenburg, Germany. The solar park with 900,000 solar panels which went fully on line in October 2009, and will supply electricity for 15,000 households a year while reducing the use of pollution-generating fossil fuels. The Lieberose Solar Park cost $238-million and is operated by the Juwi Group, which has a 20-year contract on the land.
The Strasskirchen Solar Park is a large photovoltaic power station in Bavaria, with an installed capacity of 54 MW. It was developed by a joint venture of MEMC and Q-Cells in 2009. At this time this Solar Park was the second largest PV Power Plant. Q-Cells also provided the solar modules for the facility which is located in Straßkirchen, Bavaria, Germany.
The Finsterwalde Solar Park was, in November 2010, the world's largest photovoltaic plant with 80.7 MWp. The project is located in Finsterwalde, Germany and is equipped with Q-Cells modules and LDK solar wafers.
The Senftenberg Solarpark is a photovoltaic power station located on former open-pit mining areas close to the city of Senftenberg, in Eastern Germany. The 78 MW Phase 1 of the plant was completed within three months and generates power for about 25,000 households. It was opened on September 24, 2011, by the Prime Minister of the German state of Brandenburg. The ground-based PV plant is designed for a total capacity of 148 MW.
A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant is a large-scale photovoltaic system designed for the supply of merchant power into the electricity grid. They are differentiated from most building-mounted and other decentralised solar power applications because they supply power at the utility level, rather than to a local user or users. The generic expression utility-scale solar is sometimes used to describe this type of project.
As of the end of 2014, solar power in Austria amounted to 766 megawatt (MW) of cumulative photovoltaic (PV) capacity, of which more than three quarters were installed within the last four years. Solar PV generated 766 gigawatt-hours, or about 1.4% of the country's final electricity consumption. As with most other European countries, 99.5 percent of all solar power systems are connected to the electrical grid. The nation's installed PV capacity by inhabitant stood at 91 watts, still below the European Union's 2014-average of 172 watts.
Solar power in Ukraine is obtained from photovoltaics or solar thermal energy. In 2011, 90% of electricity came from nuclear and coal. In order to reduce this, Ukraine adopted a feed-in tariff (FIT) which was one of the highest in the world - UAH 5.0509 per kWh. Europe's largest solar park at the time, the 100 MW Perovo Solar Park was completed at the end of 2011. High feed in tariffs do however run the risk of creating a short term boom in installations followed by a bust and stagnation especially when they remain fixed as was the case of Spain. Installations in Ukraine began to boom in 2018 but there remained a doubt that the expansion would be sustainable and the costs and benefits of the rapid development would be spread unequally.
Reckahn Solar Park is a photovoltaic power station in Reckahn, southwest of Berlin, Germany. It has a capacity of 37.7 megawatt (MW) and was constructed in three phases. Reckahn I was 22.661 MW covering 56 hectares and was built by Beck Energy GmbH (Belectric) using 292,000 First Solar thin-film CdTe-panels, and was expected to produce about 22 gigawatt-hours per year. Reckahn II added 13.3 MW, using 172,000 modules on a 35 hectares site. Reckahn III, completed in 2011, added 1.8 MW, bringing the total to 37.7 MW. The FIT is 21.1 Euro cents per kilowatt-hour.
The Karadzhalovo Solar Park is a 60.4 megawatt (MW) solar farm, the largest in Bulgaria. It has 214,000 photovoltaic panels, and cost 350 million Bulgarian lev . It has been completed in March 2012 after 4 month of construction.
Neuhardenberg Solar Park is a 145-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic power plant, and was Europe's largest solar power station, located at the former Neuhardenberg military airport in Brandenburg, Germany.
Templin Solar Park is a 128 megawatt (MW) photovoltaic power station, located at the former Templin military airport.
The Walddrehna Solar Park is a 52.284 MW photovoltaic power station, which is located in Walddrehna, Brandenburg, Germany, on a former military base.
The Jännersdorf Solar Park is a photovoltaic power station in Prignitz, Germany. It has a capacity of 40.5 megawatts (MW) and an annual output of 38 GWh. The solar park was developed and built by Parabel AG.
