PES takes a look at how the continent’s biggest and brightest PV power plants stack up against the largest in the world, and offers a glimpse of the mega-plants of the future.
At the beginning of the year, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou announced the creation of a photovoltaic park in Kozani, a city in the north of the country.
This solar photovoltaic park would be the biggest in the world, with a power capacity of 200 MW. Papandreou added that this construction will establish a new age of sustainable development constructions.
This investment is estimated to cost 600 million euros. It will occupy a 5,300 acre area and employ 550 employees. The most important aspect of this construction is the reduction of pollution by 300,000 tons per year. The photovoltaic park is expected to supply energy to 55,000 houses. Within the same area, there are also proposals to construct a factory to construct photovoltaic panels.
Should the massive photovoltaic park go ahead, it would more than double the output of Sarnia, currently the world’s largest park. However, there are plants in the planning stage that would dwarf even the Kozani project, with several American installations in the planning and proposal stages that range from 200 to 500 MW. Even these massive PV plants cannot compare to the proposed joint China-US project to be built over four stages in Inner Mongolia. The plant, entitled the Ordos Solar Project, is planned for completion in 2019, and expected to have a staggering eventual output of 2,000 MW. Until then, we’re left with the following Goliaths…
