Spain was one of the first countries to deploy large scale solar photovoltaics and as of 2018 the first country for concentrated solar power (CSP) in the world. In 2018, the cumulative total solar power installed was 7,011 MW, of which 4,707 MW were solar PV installations and 2,300 MW were concentrated solar power. In 2016, nearly 8 TWh of electrical power was produced from photovoltaics, and 5 TWh from CSP plants. During 2016 Photovoltaics accounted for 3% of total electricity generation and solar thermal an additional 1.9%.
The Nellis Solar Power Plant is a 14-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic power station located within Nellis Air Force Base in Clark County, Nevada, northeast of Las Vegas. The power plant was inaugurated in a ceremony on December 17, 2007, with Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons activating its full operation. On average, it has since generated 32 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually and supplied more than 25% of the power used at the base.
Solar power in Germany consists almost exclusively of photovoltaics (PV) and accounted for an estimated 6.2 to 6.9 percent of the country's net-electricity generation in 2016. About 1.5 million photovoltaic systems were installed around the country in 2014, ranging from small rooftop systems, to medium commercial and large utility-scale solar parks. Germany's largest solar farms are located in Meuro, Neuhardenberg, and Templin with capacities over 100 MW.
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.
Solar power represented a very small part of electricity production in the United Kingdom (UK) until the 2010s when it increased rapidly thanks feed-in tariff (FIT) subsidies and the falling cost of photovoltaic (PV) panels.
Conergy is a multinational renewable energy company headquartered in Singapore. It was founded in Hamburg, Germany in 2000 by former CEO Hans-Martin Rüter, and specializes in the development, operation and maintenance of photovoltaic power plants and plant components.
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.
A photovoltaic system, also PV system or solar power system, is a power system designed to supply usable solar power by means of photovoltaics. It consists of an arrangement of several components, including solar panels to absorb and convert sunlight into electricity, a solar inverter to convert the output from direct to alternating current, as well as mounting, cabling, and other electrical accessories to set up a working system. It may also use a solar tracking system to improve the system's overall performance and include an integrated battery solution, as prices for storage devices are expected to decline. Strictly speaking, a solar array only encompasses the ensemble of solar panels, the visible part of the PV system, and does not include all the other hardware, often summarized as balance of system (BOS). As PV systems convert light directly into electricity, they are not to be confused with other solar technologies, such as concentrated solar power or solar thermal, used for heating and cooling.
The California Valley Solar Ranch (CVSR) is a 250 megawatt (MWAC) photovoltaic power plant in the Carrizo Plain, northeast of California Valley. The project is owned by NRG Energy, and SunPower is the EPC contractor and technology provider. The project constructed on 1,966 acres (796 ha) of a 4,365-acre (1,766 ha) site of former grazing land. It is utilizing high-efficiency, crystalline PV panels designed and manufactured by SunPower. The project includes up to 88,000 SunPower solar tracking devices to hold PV panels that track the sun across the sky.
Alamosa Photovoltaic Power Plant, is a 7.7 MWAC (8.2 MWp) photovoltaic power station located in San Luis Valley, Colorado. The facility was the largest in the United States to service a major public utility when its activation was announced on December 17, 2007. It was the second largest plant after the U.S. Air Force's Nellis Solar Power Plant which was inaugurated the same day. The electricity is being sold to Public Service of Colorado, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, under a 20-year power purchase agreement.
Solon SE was a German solar energy company with headquarters in Berlin. Solon SE produced photovoltaic modules at its production sites in Greifswald, Steinach in Tirol, Carmignano di Brenta, Tucson and Berlin. Solon also offered turn-key solar power plants, projected by SOLON Inverstments and Inverters, developed and produced by SOLON Inverters AG.
The Montalto di Castro photovoltaic power station is an 84 megawatt (MW) photovoltaic power station at Montalto di Castro in Viterbo province, Italy. The project was developed by the independent developer SunRay that was later acquired by SunPower. The park is the largest PV project in Italy, and among the largest in Europe.
A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park or solar farm, 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.
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 San Luis Valley Solar Ranch is a 30 megawatt (MWAC) photovoltaic power station in the San Luis Valley, located near the town of Mosca, Colorado. It was the largest solar facility in the state when it came online at the end of 2011. The electricity is being sold to Public Service of Colorado, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, under a 20-year power purchase agreement.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to solar energy:
The Avra Valley Solar Generating Station is a 34 MW photovoltaic power plant in Avra Valley, Pima County, Arizona, owned by NRG. It uses single axis tracking that is designed to be maintenance free over the twenty year design life of the system. The panels are mounted on a north-south axis and rotate each day to follow the sun from sunrise to sunset, increasing the output by about 20%. Power is being sold to Tucson Electric Power in a 20-year power purchase agreement.
In 2018 Chile produced about 7% of its electricity from solar power. As of year end, it had 2137 MW of solar PV capacity.
Mount Signal Solar, also known as Imperial Valley Solar Project, is a 594 MWp (460 MWAC) photovoltaic power station west of Calexico, California in the southern Imperial Valley, near the Mexican border. The facility is being developed and constructed by 8minutenergy Renewables in three phases, with two completed as of 2018. At full build-out, it will be one of the world's largest PV solar farms with a capacity of about 800 MWp (600 MWAC). The project has been supported by several environmental groups, as the power station was built on low productivity farmland.
Solar Star is a 579-megawatt (MWAC) photovoltaic power station near Rosamond, California that is operated and maintained by SunPower Services. When completed in June 2015, it was the world's largest solar farm in terms of installed capacity, using 1.7 million solar panels, made by SunPower and spread over 13 square kilometers.
