When it comes to utilizing solar power, none of the other 49 states has anything on California. San Francisco solar power usage recently made the news when it was announced that the 49ers new stadium would be equipped with high efficiency solar panels to help generate power for the stadium. There are countless towns and counties in the state that have fully embraced solar power, and in other parts of America as well as all around the world solar power is quickly becoming one of the most popular renewable and clean energy sources.
The Perovo Solar Park is one of the largest solar farms in the world. Perovo is located in the Crimea peninsula of the Ukraine, and it is well known in Europe as one of their largest solar parks. The company behind the project Activ Solar GmbH also developed the Ukraine’s first utility scale solar facility in 2011, and they also completed Eastern Europe’s largest solar plant in November 2011. The plant consists of 440,000 crystalline solar panels and spans over 200 hectares of land. The plant is able to cover the electrical needs for the entire city of Simferopol, Crimea’s capital.
Sarnia Photovoltaic Power Plant
When the Sarnia Photovoltaic Power Plant was completed in September 2010 it was the world’s largest photovoltaic plant with an installed capacity of 97MWp. The plant covers 1,100 acres of land and the sprawling facility contains about 1.3 million thin-filmed panels. The financing of the huge solar project is an excellent example of how feed-in tariff programs can help make large solar energy projects work. In 2009 Ontario introduced a feed-in tariff payment program that paid up to CDN 44.3 cents per kW-h, and their program is now one of the top feed-in tariff programs in the world. As of April of 2012 Ontario’s unique program has allowed for 12,000 solar power systems to be installed.
Copper Mountain Solar Facility
The Copper Mountain Solar Facility was the largest photovoltaic plant in the United States when the facility was completed and ready for service. The Sempra Generation spearheaded construction for the project, and they managed to complete the large facility in a little under a year’s time. The Copper Mountain Solar Facility sprawls over 450 acres in Boulder City, Nevada and the facility is expected to generate around 100 GW-h each year. Despite the facility’s massive size, Sempra Generation is already planning on expanding it. The company hopes to add another 58MW by 2015.
To be fair this South African solar power project is still in its planning stages, but once the project is completed there will be over 30,000 homes running on solar power. The project recently made headlines because Google announced that they will invest $12 million in the project. The Jasper Power Plant project is expected to do a lot of good for South African residents. The project is estimated to provide 300 construction and 50 permanent jobs in the region, and the project will also vastly improve education standards and rural development