The following is a list of photovoltaic power stations that are larger than 500 megawatts (MW) in current net capacity. [1] Most are individual photovoltaic power stations, but some are groups of co-located plants owned by different independent power producers and with separate transformer connections to the grid. Wiki-Solar reports total global capacity of utility-scale photovoltaic plants to be some 96 GWAC which generated 1.3% of global power by the end of 2016. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Contents
- World's largest photovoltaic power stations
- Timeline of the largest PV power stations
- Largest PV power stations in each country
- See also
- References
- External links
The size of photovoltaic power stations has increased progressively over the last decade with frequent new capacity records. The 97 MW Sarnia Photovoltaic Power Plant went online in 2010. Huanghe Hydropower Golmud Solar Park reached 200 MW in 2012. In August 2012, Agua Caliente Solar Project in Arizona reached 247 MW only to be passed by three larger plants in 2013. In 2014, two plants were tied as largest: Topaz Solar Farm, a PV solar plant at 550 MWAC in central coast area and a second 550-MW plant, the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm located in the far eastern desert region of California. [7] [8] These two plants were superseded by a new world's largest facility in June 2015 when the 579 MWAC Solar Star project went online in the Antelope Valley region of Los Angeles County, California. [9]
Gonghe Talatan Solar Park (in Gonghe County, Qinghai, China) as the largest solar park in the world with a capacity of 15,600MW as of 2023 and a planning area of 609 km2, which is close to the land area of Singapore. [10]
As with other forms of power generation, there are important regional habitat modification problems, such as the heat island effect, and the resulting stress to local threatened species. [11] Several planned large facilities in the U.S. state of California have been downsized due in part to such concerns. [12] [13]
