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:
Solar power is a major contributor to electricity supply in Australia. As of December 2023, Australia's over 3.69 million solar PV installations had a combined capacity of 34.2 GW photovoltaic (PV) solar power. In 2019, 59 solar PV projects with a combined capacity of 2,881 MW were either under construction, constructed or due to start construction having reached financial closure. Solar accounted for 12.4% of Australia's total electrical energy production in 2021.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is a ministry of the Government of India, headed by current Union Cabinet Minister Pralhad Joshi, that is mainly responsible for research and development, intellectual property protection, and international cooperation, promotion, and coordination in renewable energy sources such as wind power, small hydro, biogas, Battery Energy Storage and solar power.
India's solar power installed capacity was 90.76 GW AC as of 30 September 2024. India is the third largest producer of solar power globally.
Solar power has been growing rapidly in the U.S. state of California because of high insolation, community support, declining solar costs, and a renewable portfolio standard which requires that 60% of California's electricity come from renewable resources by 2030, with 100% by 2045. Much of this is expected to come from solar power via photovoltaic facilities or concentrated solar power facilities.
India is the world's 3rd largest consumer of electricity and the world's 3rd largest renewable energy producer with 40% of energy capacity installed in the year 2022 coming from renewable sources. Ernst & Young's (EY) 2021 Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI) ranked India 3rd behind USA and China. In FY2023-24, India is planning to issue 50 GW tenders for wind, solar and hybrid projects. India has committed for a goal of 500 GW renewable energy capacity by 2030.
The National Solar Mission is an initiative of the Government of India and State Governments to promote solar power. The mission is one of the several policies of the National Action Plan on Climate Change. The program was inaugurated as the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 11 January 2010 with a target of 20 GW by 2022. This was later increased to 100 GW by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2015 Union budget of India. India increased its utility solar power generation capacity by nearly 5 times from 2,650 MW on 26 May 2014 to 12,288.83 MW on 31 March 2017. The country added 9,362.65 MW in 2017–18, the highest of any year. The original target of 20 GW was surpassed in 2018, four years ahead of the 2022 deadline.
A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building-mounted and other decentralized solar power because they supply power at the utility level, rather than to a local user or users. Utility-scale solar is sometimes used to describe this type of project.
Solar power in France including overseas territories reached an installed capacity figure of 11.2 GW in 2020, and rose further to 17.1 GW at the end of 2022. Government plans announced in 2022 foresee solar PV capacity in France rising to 100 GW by 2050.
Solar power in South Africa includes photovoltaics (PV) as well as concentrated solar power (CSP). As of July 2024, South Africa had 2,287 MW of installed utility-scale PV solar power capacity in its grid, in addition to 5,791 MW of rooftop solar and 500 MW of CSP. Installed capacity is expected to reach 8,400 MW by 2030.
Fonroche Énergie is a French company, founded in 2008 by Yann Maus. Its headquarters are in Roquefort, Lot-et-Garonne, in the French department of Lot-et-Garonne. Its core business is renewable and alternative energy.
Deepak Gupta is a former chairman of the Union Public Service Commission.
Mount Signal Solar, also known as Imperial Valley Solar Project, is a 794 MWp (614 MWAC) photovoltaic power station west of Calexico, California, United States, in the southern Imperial Valley, near the Mexican border. The facility was developed and constructed by 8minutenergy Renewables in three phases, with two completed as of 2018, and the third in 2020. It is 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.
Vikram Solar Limited is an Indian company based in Kolkata. It is one of the largest solar module manufacturers in India, with 3.5 GW module manufacturing capacity annually and the second-largest solar energy company in India by revenue. The company's primary business focus is manufacturing solar PV modules, and also carrying out engineering, procurement, and construction services and operations, and maintenance of solar power plants.
Neoen is a French producer of exclusively renewable energy headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 2008, it develops, finances, builds and operates solar power plants, onshore wind farms and energy storage solutions. As at 31 December 2023, the company's total capacity was 8 GW, made up of 50% solar, 30% wind and 20% battery storage. Neoen aims to attain 10 GW in operation or under construction by 2025.
Alten Solar Power Station, also Kesses 1 Solar Power Station, is a 44 megawatts (59,000 hp) solar power plant in Kenya, the largest economy in the East African Community.
The Gourou Banda Solar Power Station is a 50 MW (67,000 hp) solar power plant under construction in Niger. This renewable energy infrastructure project is under development by an independent power producer (IPP), under the build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) model, with support from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, as part of the bank's "Scaling Solar" program. The solar farm, first conceived in 2018, as a 20 megawatts installation, was expanded to capacity of 50 megawatts in 2020.
NLC Dolly Gunj Solar Power Plant is a photovoltaic power station owned and operated by NLC India Limited in Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India.
