The First Solar Power Station was developed by ARCO in 1982 [1]. They initially build an array of 1 megawatt and eventually developed an additional 4 megawatts on the same site. This station was located in central California. The 120-acre unmanned facility supplied PG&E’s utility grid with enough power for 2000-2500 homes. (DOE) This plant was eventually shut down in 1994.
Current Largest Solar farms worldwide/in USA
Currently there are more than 96 gigawatts of photovoltaic power station installations in the world [2]. However, this number is somewhat difficult define since only certain sizes of installations are counted in this number. This figure represents all plants that are 4 megawatts and above. So, it is likely that this number is much larger and is well over the 100 gigawatt mark.
Currently the largest system is in the world is the Longyangxia Dam in the Qinghai Province, China [3]. It is 850 megawatts (roughly 4 million panels) and covers 27 square kilometers. The second largest system is located in Kamuthi, Tamil Nadu, India. It can supply up to 150,000 homes in the surrounding area and takes up about 10 kilometers squared. The largest plant in the United States is the Solar Star installation near Rosemond California and Is 579 megawatts[4].
Countries with most arrays
Presently the United States has the most arrays but China bests them with total output from their plants. Additionally, almost half of the world’s solar plants are location in Asia. This is in big part because the number one and four countries on the list for the most solar power stations (China and India respectively).
Future Projects in development
There are over 1000 utility scale projects in the process of development.
Projects have seen a exponential growth in the last ten years.
Grid Parity, or the cost of solar equal to conventional grid costs, has already been reached in about 30 countries.
China is the world leader in current solar energy production. They also have the projected dominance in the field. (5)
(Longyangxia Dam solar power station)
References