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 fast-growing industry in Australia. As of September 2023, Australia's over 3.60 million solar PV installations had a combined capacity of 32.9 GW photovoltaic (PV) solar power, of which at least 3,823 MW were installed in the preceding 12 months. 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.
Spain is one of the first countries to deploy large-scale solar photovoltaics, and is the world leader in concentrated solar power (CSP) production.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is a ministry of the Government of India, headed by current Union Cabinet Minister Raj Kumar Singh, 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, and solar power.
India's solar power installed capacity was 81.813 GWAC as of 31 March 2024.
India is the world's 4th 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. In line with this commitment, India's installed renewable energy capacity has been experiencing a steady upward trend. From 94.4 GW in 2021, the capacity has gone up to 119.1 GW in 2023 as of Q4.
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 2023, South Africa had over 2700 MW of installed PV solar power capacity in its grid, in addition to 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 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.
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.
The CIAL Solar Power Project is a 40 megawatt (MW) photovoltaic power station built at Cochin International Airport, India, by the company Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL). Cochin International Airport became the first fully solar powered airport in the world with the commissioning the plant.
Kadapa Ultra Mega Solar Park is a solar park spread over a total area of 5,927.76 acres (23.9888 km2) in the Mylavaram mandal of Kadapa district, Andhra Pradesh.
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, wind farms and energy storage solutions. As at 30 June 2023, the company's total capacity was 7 GW, made up of 47% solar, 34% wind and 19% battery storage. Neoen aims to attain 10 GW in operation or under construction by 2025.
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.
