The largest solar power plant in the world has been launched: it can provide light to a small country

The largest solar power plants in the world are located in India and China. Until recently, the top line of the ranking was occupied by the Indian power plant Bhadla (Bhadla Solar Park), which covers an area of ​​57 square kilometers. Under ideal conditions, it produces 2,245 megawatts of electricity, which is enough to power a city with a population of about two million people. In June 2024, the Indian station lost its status as the largest in the world – the first place is now occupied by the Chinese solar power plant Midong. It is located in the desert and consists of millions of solar panels that turn sunlight into electricity every moment.

The largest solar power plant in the world has been launched: it can provide light to a small country. In 2024, the largest solar power plant in the world is Midong in China. Source: PV Magazine. Photo.

In 2024, the largest solar power plant in the world is Midong in China. Source: PV Magazine

Contents

  • 1 The largest solar power plant in 2024
  • 2 Rating of the largest solar power plants
  • 3 Why solar power plants are better than conventional ones
  • 4 How to clean sand from solar panels

The largest solar power plant in 2024

The largest solar power plant was built by the Chinese company China Green Electricity Investment of Tianjin. According to Reuters, it is locatedin the Xinjiang region, near the city of Urumqi.The construction of the huge station cost 15.45 billion yuan, which at the current exchange rate is approximately 187 billion rubles.< /p>The largest solar power plant in 2024. Pay attention to the size of the car compared to the size of the solar panels - they are simply huge. Source: PV Magazine. Photo.

Pay attention to the size of the car in comparison with the size of the solar panels – they simply huge. Source: PV Magazine

The solar power plant in China covers an area of ​​133.5 square kilometers. This gigantic piece of land hasmore than 5 million solar panelsNotably, they are double-sided, meaning they capture light from both sides. They are also equipped with double glass, which protects against damage.

The solar panels are supported by more than 1.23 million support piles. More than 208 kilometers of wires are stretched from the panels to transmit electricity, and five substations have been built.Typically, the energy produced by solar power plants is at low voltage, and these substations increase this voltage to a level suitable for transmission through the electrical grid.

The largest solar power plant in 2024. The photo perfectly shows how large an area the solar power plant occupies. Source: PV Magazine. Photo.

The photo perfectly shows how large an area the solar power plant occupies. Source: PV Magazine

The Midong solar power plant is expected to generate approximately 6.09 billion kWh of electricity per year. This amount of energy is enough to provide a comfortable life for 9 million people. For example, cities the size of Papua New Guinea or Luxembourg could easily live on this energy. If this energy were used to charge electric cars, it would be enough to support the operation of 2 million electric cars for a year.

Rating of the largest solar power plants

There are other large stations in the world that generate electricity using sunlight. At the beginning of the article, we mentioned the Indian Bhadla power station – it is the second largest in the world.

The third place in the ranking of the largest solar stations is occupied by the Indian Pavagada Solar Park. It is located near the Indian city of Tumkur and covers an area of ​​52 square kilometers. It appeared relatively recently, it was built in 2019. In ideal conditions with maximum sunlight and no clouds, it generates 2050 MW of electricity.

Rating of the largest solar power plants. Solar panels of the Pavagada Solar Park station. Source: electrik.info. Photo.

Solar panels of the Pavagada Solar Park station. Source: electrik.info

Another large solar park is the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Power Plant. It is located 50 kilometers south of Dubai and covers an area of ​​77 square kilometers. Yes, it is larger in size than the Indian power plants of Bhadla and Pavagada. But it produces a little less electricity, under ideal conditions 2,027 MW.

Rating of the largest solar power plants. The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum power plant seems limitless. Source: focus.hidubai.com. Photo.

The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum power plant seems limitless. Source: focus.hidubai.com

Why solar power plants are better than conventional ones

Today, many countries are trying to generate as much electricity as possible from sunlight. This is due to the fact that the Sun is an inexhaustible source of energy, which cannot be said about fossil fuels. While conventional power plants emit carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the air, solar plants help reduce air pollution. Also, with the help of solar power plants, countries can reduce their dependence on imported energy resources such as oil and gas.

Why are solar power plants better than conventional ones? Solar power plants are being built all over the world, and some countries are doing well in this. Source: se.com. Photo.

Solar power plants are being built all over the world, and some countries are doing well. Source: se.com

However, solar power plants also have serious disadvantages. The most important of them is dependence on weather conditions – in cloudy weather they will not be able to generate much energy. In addition, they are often located in deserts, where sandstorms occur very often.

Also, installing solar panels requires a lot of space. Land is expensive, so building solar power plants can cost millions of dollars. The efficiency of solar panels decreases over time; they need to be replaced approximately every 20-30 years.

How to clean sand from solar panels

Workers at all solar power plants clean the panels from dust and dirt in their own way. If it is not in the desert, they are manually watered with water, which quickly cleans the surface of the panels. In deserts there is little water, so the panels there are cleaned by drones with a directed air flow. At small power plants, cleaning is carried out manually by special workers, and sometimes trucks are used for this, which can be done faster.

How to clean sand from solar panels. A tractor cleans solar panels with a huge brush. Source: ballymenaguardian.co.uk. Photo.

A tractor cleans solar panels with a huge brush. Source: ballymenaguardian.co.uk

In stations with millions of panels, it is impossible to clean everything by hand. Therefore, they use robotic systems that wash the panels on a schedule. This allows the sun to receive maximum electricity.

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Finally, it should be noted that relatively recently the largest wind turbine was installed in China. Be sure to read about this miracle of engineering!


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