5 of the World's Largest Solar Parks

Recently we talked about big wind farms and now we're turning our attention to solar parks. Here are 5 of the world's largest PV power plants.

Agua Caliente Solar Project, USA

This 397 MW PV solar generating facility is being built in Yuma County, Arizona, using thin film solar panels from First Solar. 39 MW was online as of December 2011, 100 MW completed in April 2012, 200 MW in July 2012, and 247 MW in August 2012, when the 10th section was completed. The project is expected to be completed in 2014 though the addition of more panels has halted until 2013, with crates of panels covered to protect them. Peak output of the installed panels has reached as high as 251.3 MW.

Charanka Solar Park, India

Gujarat Solar Park is the name used for a group of solar parks being constructed in Gujarat. Certificates of completion were issued on April 19, 2012 for a total of 605 MW, which included some sections that were already operational. One is the Charanka Solar Park, a group of 17 thin-film PV power systems, on a 2,000-hectare (4,900-acre) site in the district of Patan. A total of 84 developers have registered to build 968.5 MW and the job is expected to be completed by 2013.

Golmud Solar Park, China

Huanghe Hydropower's Golmud Solar park is a 200 MWp PV power station located in Golmud, Qinghai Province, China. Construction began in 2009, and the project won the 2012 China Quality Power Project Award. Output is expected to be 317.2 GWh/year.

Perovo Solar Park, Ukraine

The Perovo Solar Park is a 100 MWp PV power station located at Perovo in Crimea, Ukraine. As of July 2012 it is the world's fourth largest solar farm, made up of 440,000 solar panels. It is owned by Activ Solar, and the final 20 MW stage was completed on December 29, 2011.

Sarnia Photovoltaic Power Plant, Canada

Located near Sarnia, Ontario in Canada, the Sarnia Photovoltaic Power Plant was at one point world's largest PV plant with an installed capacity of 97 MWp. The plant covers 950 acres (380 ha) and contains about 966,000 square metres (96.6 ha), which is about 1.3 million thin film panels. The expected annual energy yield is about 120,000 MW•h.