Large-scale solar energy projects are being implemented in many countries. We will see the ranking of the 9 largest SPPs in the world.

Solar energy is one of the fastest growing sources of electricity in the world. Already built 9 largest power plants in the world.

Lower production costs and increased public awareness of environmental hazards make solar energy one of the fastest growing sources of renewable energy. Over the past 5 years, the number of solar power plants has almost quadrupled. And by the end of 2017, their capacity increased to almost 400 GW.

The largest solar power plants in the world

The countries that are developing solar the most are China and the US, which together account for two-thirds of global growth solar energy. But the title of "largest solar plant" in the world never holds for long, as new solar parks are constantly springing up.

1) Kamuti Solar Power Plant, India

The power plant, located in Tamil Nadu, has a total generating capacity of 648 MW and covers an area of ​​10 km2. Electricity is generated by 2.5 million photo panels. The project was completed in September 2016 at a cost of $679 million.

Construction took a record 8 months. Also, the solar panels of the Kamuti power plant are cleaned every day by a robotic system, which itself is charged by its own solar panels.

2) Longyangxia Solar Factory, China

The Longyangxia Solar Park has a total capacity of 850 MW, enough to power 200 thousand households.

It is located on the Tibetan plateau in northwest China's Qinghai province and is operated by the state-owned Energy Investment Corporation, one of China's top five.

The first phase of construction was completed in 2013 and the second in 2015, with a total construction cost of approximately $920 million.

3) Karnool Solar Power Plant, India

Karnool Solar Park covers an area of ​​24 km2 and is located in the Andhra Pradesh region. Its total capacity is 1000 MW. The construction cost also amounted to more than a billion dollars.

There are more than 4 million installed in the park solar panels, each of which has a power of 315 - 320 W.

IN sunny days the site can generate over 8 million kWh of electricity, enough to meet virtually the entire electricity demand of Karnool district.

4) Enel Villanueva Power Plant, Mexico

Located in the Mexican state of Coahuila, the photovoltaic facility consists of more than 2.3 million solar panels across 2,400 hectares in the Mexican semi-arid region. It will be able to produce more than 1,700 GWh per year once fully operational, with completion expected in the second half of 2018.

Enel Group will invest approximately $650 million in the construction of Villanueva. The plant is currently 41% complete and produces 310 MW.

5) Tenger Power Plant, China

Teng'er Solar Park, located in Zhongwei, Ningxia, is currently the world's largest photovoltaic plant in terms of size and production. Called the "Great Solar Wall", it covers 1,200 km of the 36,700 km Tengger Desert, occupying 3.2% of its area.

The solar park's capacity is 1547 MW.

6) Shakti Sthala Solar Plant, India

The solar park covers 52.6 km2 around five villages in the arid Pavagada district. It has a total capacity of 2000 MW.

The first phase of the park will generate 600 MW and another 1,400 MW is planned to be operational by the end of 2018. The first stage of the project began work on March 1 this year.

7) Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, UAE

The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park plans to increase its capacity to 1,000 MW in 2020 and to 5,000 MW by 2030, making it the world's largest solar power plant. When completed, the park is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 6.5 million tons per year.

8) Bhadla Solar Park, India

Bhadla Solar Farm is located on 45 km2 in Rajsthan region. Once all four phases of the project are completed, the plant will be able to produce 2,255 MW of electricity. It should be operational by December 2019.

More than a million panels have already been installed solar panels, which is only about 15% of the entire future fleet.

9) Pavagada Solar Park, India

Pavagada Solar Park is spread over an area of ​​53 km2 in Tumkur district of Karnataka, which includes five villages. This area was chosen due to its high solar radiation and the availability of land, as well as the fact that the region has very little rainfall.

By the end of 2018, the park will have a total capacity of 2,000 MW, with a further 1,400 MW planned to be added.

The total investment required to build the site is estimated at $2.2 billion.published

If you have any questions on this topic, ask them to the experts and readers of our project.

In our age alternative sources energies are becoming increasingly popular. A model city for implementation innovative technologies can be called Seville, the financial and cultural capital of southern Spain. The world's first commercial solar power plant.

The surroundings of Seville, where the solar power plant is installed, resemble a real looking glass. In the center there are two giant towers PS10 and PS20, the height of which is comparable to 40-story buildings. Around the PS10 tower are 624 heliostats, huge mirrors that track sun rays and redirect them to the top of the towers. Installed there steam turbines, processing sunlight into electricity. The PS20 tower, which will be in operation before the end of 2013, is even more powerful, surrounded by 1,255 mirrors. It is expected that the operation of the towers will prevent emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in the amount of 600 thousand tons annually for 25 years.

Currently, the solar power plant powers 60 thousand homes; when the project is completed, this figure will rise to 180 thousand. It is planned that the total capacity of both towers will reach 300 MW. Of course, prices for such electricity are still higher than for traditional sources. However, over time, the price normalizes due to increased production volumes.

Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating Station is located in the Mojave Desert, 3 hours east of Los Angeles. Its construction took about three years, cost 2 billion 200 million dollars, and finally, in the spring of 2014, it was put into operation. The station produces absolutely clean energy, without the need to burn any fuel.

The $2.2 billion project was implemented by the American company NRG Energy with the support of the US Department of Energy. 350 thousand giant mirrors located on an area of ​​13 square meters. kilometers, reflect sunlight, heating water and turning it into steam, which, in turn, rotates a turbine that generates electricity. Experts emphasize that the new station will significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions: as if 72 thousand cars were removed from California roads. In such “sunny” states as Arizona, Nevada, California and others, 17 sites have already been allocated for the construction of similar solar power plants.

At the same time, projects are being implemented more slowly than planned, encountering, oddly enough, protests from the “greens.” The fact is that although in the long term such stations benefit the environment, in fact the construction of the stations itself pollutes the areas allocated for them, depriving turtles and other representatives of the desert fauna of their usual habitats. However, the United States plans to become a world leader in the use of environmentally friendly clean energy. Now it occupies no more than 1% of the total energy market in the country, but by 2020, according to the adopted state program, a third of all produced energy should be transferred to renewable sources.
This station is the largest in the world, covering an area of ​​14.24 square kilometers (5.5 sq mi). This object is called Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System. This station belongs to the type of thermal solar power plants.

This plant is capable of producing about 30% of all “thermal energy” produced in the United States. The facility has 3 towers 140 meters high, surrounded by 300,000 mirrors the size of garage door. All these mirrors focus the sun's rays onto a collector located at the top of the tower. At the top of the tower there is also a water reservoir, where all the thermal energy, collected by mirrors.

Each tower has its own control center, plus there is a common control center from where the operation of the entire system is controlled. However, according to the company that created the station, the system does not have storage for molten salt coolant, as is the case with smaller projects such as Crescent Dunes.

It is worth noting that each of the mirrors can change the angle and direction of tilt upon command from the center. The mirrors are washed once every two weeks. As far as can be understood, a special mirror washing system is used + a special team of washers cleaning the mirrors at night. To control all mirrors, a proprietary SFINCS (Solar Field Integrated Control System) system was created.
The entire system consists of 22 million individual parts (rivets, bolts, etc. do not count).

The total cost of the project was 2.2 billion US dollars, of which 1.4 was a federal loan.

At the same time, water vapor is generated in the system, which is directed to the blades of turbines, which produce energy that is sufficient for the needs of 140 thousand California households.

True, it was not without problems. For example, the focused rays of the sun burn birds flying over the station. This fact is the reason for protests from US environmental organizations. But, despite all the protests, the project was completed and put into operation.









86 employees are employed in servicing the station. The estimated period of operation is 30 years, during which the station will provide electricity to 140 thousand houses from the cities of the district.

The largest thermal solar power plant in the world February 18th, 2014

In California's Mojave Desert, the world's largest solar power plant, Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating Station, began operating last week. Its design capacity is about 400 megawatts: this amount of energy will be enough for 140 thousand homes in California.

The $2.2 billion project was implemented by the American company NRG Energy with the support of the US Department of Energy. 350 thousand giant mirrors located on an area of ​​13 square meters. kilometers, reflect sunlight, heating the water and turning it into steam, which in turn rotates a turbine that produces electricity.

Let's find out more about it...

Photo 2.

Experts emphasize that the new station will significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions: as if 72 thousand cars were removed from California roads. In such “sunny” states as Arizona, Nevada, California and others, 17 sites have already been allocated for the construction of similar solar power plants.

At the same time, projects are being implemented more slowly than planned, encountering, oddly enough, protests from the “greens.” The fact is that although in the long term such stations benefit the environment, in fact the construction of the stations itself pollutes the areas allocated for them, depriving turtles and other representatives of the desert fauna of their usual habitats.

Photo 3.

However, the US plans to become a world leader in the use of clean energy. Now it occupies no more than 1% of the total energy market in the country, but by 2020, according to the adopted state program, a third of all produced energy should be transferred to renewable sources.
This station is the largest in the world, covering an area of ​​14.24 square kilometers (5.5 sq mi). This object is called Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System. This station belongs to the type of thermal solar power plants.

This plant is capable of producing about 30% of all “thermal energy” produced in the United States. The facility features 3 towers 140 meters high, surrounded by 300,000 mirrors the size of garage doors. All these mirrors focus the sun's rays onto a collector located at the top of the tower. At the top of the tower there is also a water reservoir, where all the thermal energy collected by the mirrors is directed.

Photo 4.

Each tower has its own control center, plus there is a common control center from where the operation of the entire system is controlled. However, according to the company that created the station, the system does not have storage for molten salt coolant, as is the case with smaller projects such as Crescent Dunes.

It is worth noting that each of the mirrors can change the angle and direction of tilt upon command from the center. The mirrors are washed once every two weeks. As far as can be understood, a special mirror washing system is used + a special team of washers cleaning the mirrors at night. To control all mirrors, a proprietary SFINCS (Solar Field Integrated Control System) system was created.

The entire system consists of 22 million individual parts (rivets, bolts, etc. do not count).

The total cost of the project was 2.2 billion US dollars, of which 1.4 was a federal loan.

At the same time, water vapor is generated in the system, which is directed to the blades of turbines, which produce energy that is sufficient for the needs of 140 thousand California households.

True, it was not without problems. For example, the focused rays of the sun burn birds flying over the station. This fact is the reason for protests from US environmental organizations. But, despite all the protests, the project was completed and put into operation.

Photo 6.


Finally, the design still has room to develop. BrightSource Energy engineers are already proposing to abandon water boilers and use special saline solutions, which will further increase the efficiency of the system while maintaining its environmental and energy qualities.

86 employees are employed in servicing the station. The estimated period of operation is 30 years, during which the station will provide electricity to 140 thousand houses from the cities of the district.

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Life modern society has long been impossible without electricity. Now 90% of the infrastructure in Russia is computerized, and almost all databases are presented in electronic form. In such a situation, they are simply necessary, and here such an invention as a power plant comes to the aid of people. water, thermal, gas, nuclear and solar. The most big Russia located in the south of Altai.

Nuclear power plants: already history

Until recently, they were widely used to generate electricity. The first one in our country appeared in Obninsk and existed for about fifty years, ceasing to function in 2002. The power unit of the Obninsk nuclear power plant was 5 MW, and during the first experimental launch it generated electricity with a power of 800 W.

Nuclear power plants have a complex structure and require special conditions operation. To eliminate the possibility of failures and the occurrence of accidents with radiation leaks, a large maintenance staff is required.

Therefore, throughout the entire existence of nuclear power plants, experts have been trying to create generators that will generate energy with minimal emissions of carbon dioxide and other harmful substances into the atmosphere. And also those whose work would be generally more environmentally friendly and less dangerous.

The era of solar power plants

By 2015, a significant number of nuclear power plants around the world had been shut down. It seems that an alternative has finally been found that corresponds to the scale of the 21st century.

The number of solar power plants on the planet is constantly growing. At least five major projects have been launched and completed over the past decade. Today, the largest solar power plant in the world is located in California.

Designs that convert the sun's rays into a powerful and relatively safe source of energy compared to nuclear installations. The station receives “fuel” using solar modules, which are square panels that distribute sunlight or concentrate it in a certain way - for example, on boilers, according to the principle of the Ivanpah station. The water in the boilers is heated, and the resulting steam sets turbines in motion, thanks to which electricity is generated.

Largest solar power plants

Today, stations of this type are used in at least ten countries, including China, India, and Germany. USA and Russia. A large percentage of solar power plants are located in America, mainly in the state of California. They were not built here by chance, because... it is in this band that the most is concentrated large number sunlight per year. These structures occupy large areas, and their sizes are simply amazing:

• Installation in Imperial County. This is the most powerful solar power plant in the world. Its modules move with the sun throughout the day, which allows them to receive maximum sunlight for processing.
• Station "Ivanpah" (Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System), Mojave Desert, USA. This structure is famous for its number of solar modules - there are nine million of them, and they are located on an area of ​​​​about fourteen square kilometers. The peak power of the installation is 550 mW.
• State of Nevada, USA. The large generator is equipped with modules manufactured by First Solar, and the company is promised reimbursement for construction costs of up to thirty percent.
• Solar farm Topaz. The world's largest solar power plant, which was inaugurated in November 2016 and has a 550 MW generator.

Which use sunlight to generate electricity, fully meet the requirements of the century high technology. So far, the only harmful factors that solar power plants have on environment- they are a significant hindrance in the life of birds. As for the safety of the structures themselves, the worst thing is the risk of fires.