49-437: The Lower Wonga Solar Farm is a proposed photovoltaic power station , located in the rural locality of Lower Wonga , Gympie Region , Queensland , Australia. If the station is completed to its final configuration of 3 million solar panels capable of powering about 315,000 homes, it would become Australia's largest solar power station. The Lower Wonga Solar Farm would be located on previously cleared lands used for grazing, on
98-683: A PV solar plant at 550 MW AC in central coast area and a second 550-MW plant, the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm located in the far eastern desert region of California . These two plants were superseded by a new world's largest facility in June 2015 when the 579 MW AC Solar Star project went online in the Antelope Valley region of Los Angeles County, California. Gonghe Talatan Solar Park (in Gonghe County, Qinghai, China) as
147-427: A desired power output varies depending on the location, the efficiency of the solar panels, the slope of the site, and the type of mounting used. Fixed tilt solar arrays using typical panels of about 15% efficiency on horizontal sites, need about 1 hectare (2.5 acres)/MW in the tropics and this figure rises to over 2 hectares (4.9 acres) in northern Europe. Because of the longer shadow the array casts when tilted at
196-427: A life of 25 to 75 years, and normally do not require replacement during the life of a photovoltaic power station. The performance of a solar park depends on the climatic conditions, the equipment used and the system configuration. The primary energy input is the global light irradiance in the plane of the solar arrays, and this in turn is a combination of the direct and the diffuse radiation. In some regions soiling ,
245-507: A measure more directly comparable to other forms of power generation. Most solar parks are developed at a scale of at least 1 MW p . As of 2018, the world's largest operating photovoltaic power stations surpassed 1 gigawatt . At the end of 2019, about 9,000 solar farms were larger than 4 MW AC (utility scale), with a combined capacity of over 220 GW AC . Most of the existing large-scale photovoltaic power stations are owned and operated by independent power producers , but
294-459: A multitude of solar panels , mounted on support structures and interconnected to deliver a power output to electronic power conditioning subsystems. The majority are free-field systems using ground-mounted structures, usually of one of the following types: Many projects use mounting structures where the solar panels are mounted at a fixed inclination calculated to provide the optimum annual output profile. The panels are normally oriented towards
343-453: A new solar park, and can be a significant contributor to the cost. Most stations are sited within a few kilometres of a suitable grid connection point. This network needs to be capable of absorbing the output of the solar park when operating at its maximum capacity. The project developer will normally have to absorb the cost of providing power lines to this point and making the connection; in addition often to any costs associated with upgrading
392-479: A solar farm in space—collecting solar power from a photovoltaic cell and beaming energy down to Earth—constituted an early feasibility demonstration completed. Such setups are not limited by cloud cover or the Sun’s cycle. Most solar parks are ground mounted PV systems, also known as free-field solar power plants. They can either be fixed tilt or use a single axis or dual axis solar tracker . While tracking improves
441-551: A solar park, for example at times of low demand or high availability of other generators. Some countries make statutory provision for priority access to the grid for renewable generators, such as that under the European Renewable Energy Directive . In recent years, PV technology has improved its electricity generating efficiency , reduced the installation cost per watt as well as its energy payback time (EPBT). It has reached grid parity in most parts of
490-419: A steeper angle, this area is typically about 10% higher for an adjustable tilt array or a single axis tracker, and 20% higher for a 2-axis tracker, though these figures will vary depending on the latitude and topography. The best locations for solar parks in terms of land use are held to be brown field sites , or where there is no other valuable land use. Even in cultivated areas, a significant proportion of
539-417: A wider range of sources. The prices revealed by these auctions and tenders have led to highly competitive prices in many regions. Amongst the prices quoted are: Solar generating stations have become progressively cheaper in recent years, and this trend is expected to continue. Meanwhile, traditional electricity generation is becoming progressively more expensive. These trends led to a crossover point when
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#1733092802555588-422: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Photovoltaic power station A photovoltaic power station , also known as a solar park , solar farm , or solar power plant , is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power . They are different from most building-mounted and other decentralized solar power because they supply power at
637-453: Is lower in temperate climates or those with more significant diffuse radiation , due to overcast conditions. So dual axis trackers are most commonly used in subtropical regions, and were first deployed at utility scale at the Lugo plant. A third approach achieves some of the output benefits of tracking, with a lesser penalty in terms of land area, capital and operating cost. This involves tracking
686-404: Is metered in real-time with readings of its energy output provided, typically on a half-hourly basis, for balancing and settlement within the electricity market. Income is affected by the reliability of equipment within the plant and also by the availability of the grid network to which it is exporting. Some connection contracts allow the transmission system operator to curtail the output of
735-620: Is typically warranted at plus or minus 3% during the first year of operation. Solar power plants are developed to deliver merchant electricity into the grid as an alternative to other renewable, fossil or nuclear generating stations. The plant owner is an electricity generator. Most solar power plants today are owned by independent power producers (IPP's), though some are held by investor- or community-owned utilities. Some of these power producers develop their own portfolio of power plants, but most solar parks are initially designed and constructed by specialist project developers. Typically
784-620: The Charanka Solar Park , where there are 17 different generation projects; Neuhardenberg , with eleven plants, and the Golmud solar park with total reported capacity over 500 MW. An extreme example would be calling all of the solar farms in the Gujarat state of India a single solar park, the Gujarat Solar Park . To avoid land use altogether, in 2022, a 5 MW floating solar park
833-526: The utility level, rather than to a local user or users. Utility-scale solar is sometimes used to describe this type of project. This approach differs from concentrated solar power , the other major large-scale solar generation technology, which uses heat to drive a variety of conventional generator systems. Both approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but to date, for a variety of reasons, photovoltaic technology has seen much wider use. As of 2019 , about 97% of utility-scale solar power capacity
882-452: The 'performance ratio' has been developed to evaluate the total value of these losses. The performance ratio gives a measure of the output AC power delivered as a proportion of the total DC power which the solar panels should be able to deliver under the ambient climatic conditions. In modern solar parks the performance ratio should typically be in excess of 80%. Early photovoltaic systems output decreased as much as 10%/year, but as of 2010
931-552: The Equator, at a tilt angle slightly less than the latitude of the site. In some cases, depending on local climatic, topographical or electricity pricing regimes, different tilt angles can be used, or the arrays might be offset from the normal east–west axis to favour morning or evening output. A variant on this design is the use of arrays, whose tilt angle can be adjusted twice or four times annually to optimise seasonal output. They also require more land area to reduce internal shading at
980-648: The accumulation of dust or organic material on the solar panels that blocks incident light, is a significant loss factor. A key determinant of the output of the system is the conversion efficiency of the solar panels, which depends in particular on the type of solar cell used. There will be losses between the DC output of the solar panels and the AC power delivered to the grid, due to a wide range of factors such as light absorption losses, mismatch, cable voltage drop, conversion efficiencies, and other parasitic losses . A parameter called
1029-438: The advantage of the projects sharing the cost and risks of project infrastructure such as grid connections and planning approval. Solar farms can also be co-located with wind farms. Sometimes 'solar park' is used to describe a set of individual solar power stations, which share sites or infrastructure, and 'cluster' is used where several plants are located nearby without any shared resources. Some examples of solar parks are
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#17330928025551078-621: The centre of the block. String inverters are substantially lower in capacity than central inverters, of the order of 10 kW up to 250 KW for newer models (2020), and condition the output of a single array string. This is normally a whole, or part of, a row of solar arrays within the overall plant. String inverters can enhance the efficiency of solar parks, where different parts of the array are experiencing different levels of insolation, for example where arranged at different orientations, or closely packed to minimise site area. The system inverters typically provide power output at voltages of
1127-523: The corner of the Wide Bay Highway and Gympie Woolooga Road, Lower Wonga, Queensland. The farm site is also located next to the Woolooga Substation and transmission lines, providing a cheap and easy point to distribute power into the grid. This article about an Australian power station is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about renewable energy plants
1176-466: The developer will plan the project, obtain planning and connection consents, and arrange financing for the capital required. The actual construction work is normally contracted to one or more engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractors. Major milestones in the development of a new photovoltaic power plant are planning consent , grid connection approval, financial close , construction, connection and commissioning. At each stage in
1225-712: The end of 1982, followed in 1984 by a 5.2 MW p installation in Carrizo Plain . Both have since been decommissioned (although a new plant, Topaz Solar Farm , was commissioned in Carrizo Plain in 2015). The next stage followed the 2004 revisions to the feed-in tariffs in Germany , when a substantial volume of solar parks were constructed. Several hundred installations over 1 MW p have since been installed in Germany, of which more than 50 are over 10 MW p . With its introduction of feed-in tariffs in 2008, Spain briefly became
1274-400: The grid, so it can accommodate the output from the plant. Therefore, solar power stations are sometimes built at sites of former coal-fired power stations to reuse existing infrastructure. Once the solar park has been commissioned, the owner usually enters into a contract with a suitable counterparty to undertake operation and maintenance (O&M). In many cases this may be fulfilled by
1323-683: The grid. Wiki-Solar reports total global capacity of utility-scale photovoltaic plants to be some 96 GW AC which generated 1.3% of global power by the end of 2016. The size of photovoltaic power stations has increased progressively over the last decade with frequent new capacity records . The 97 MW Sarnia Photovoltaic Power Plant went online in 2010. Huanghe Hydropower Golmud Solar Park reached 200 MW in 2012. In August 2012, Agua Caliente Solar Project in Arizona reached 247 MW only to be passed by three larger plants in 2013. In 2014, two plants were tied as largest: Topaz Solar Farm ,
1372-416: The inverters or as separate units. These devices keep each solar array string close to its peak power point . There are two primary alternatives for configuring this conversion equipment; centralized and string inverters, although in some cases individual, or micro-inverters are used. Single inverters allows optimizing the output of each panel, and multiple inverters increases the reliability by limiting
1421-445: The involvement of community and utility-owned projects is increasing. Previously, almost all were supported at least in part by regulatory incentives such as feed-in tariffs or tax credits , but as levelized costs fell significantly in the 2010s and grid parity has been reached in most markets, external incentives are usually not needed. The first 1 MW p solar park was built by Arco Solar at Lugo near Hesperia, California , at
1470-413: The largest market with some 60 solar parks over 10 MW, but these incentives have since been withdrawn. The USA, China, India, France, Canada, Australia, and Italy, among others, have also become major markets as shown on the list of photovoltaic power stations . The largest sites under construction have capacities of hundreds of MW p and some more than 1 GW p . The land area required for
1519-484: The largest solar park in the world with a capacity of 15,600MW as of 2023 and a planning area of 609 km , which is close to the land area of Singapore. As with other forms of power generation, there are important regional habitat modification problems, such as the heat island effect, and the resulting stress to local threatened species. Several planned large facilities in the U.S. state of California have been downsized due in part to such concerns. The following
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1568-627: The levelised cost of energy from solar parks, historically more expensive, matched or beat the cost of traditional electricity generation. This point depends on locations and other factors, and is commonly referred to as grid parity. List of photovoltaic power stations Download coordinates as: The following is a list of photovoltaic power stations that are larger than 500 megawatts (MW) in current net capacity. Most are individual photovoltaic power stations , but some are groups of co-located plants owned by different independent power producers and with separate transformer connections to
1617-413: The loss of output when an inverter fails. These units have relatively high capacity, typically of the order between 1 MW up to 7 MW for newer units (2020), so they condition the output of a substantial block of solar arrays, up to perhaps 2 hectares (4.9 acres) in area. Solar parks using centralized inverters are often configured in discrete rectangular blocks, with the related inverter in one corner, or
1666-414: The median degradation rate was 0.5%/year, with panels made after 2000 having a significantly lower degradation rate, so that a system would lose only 12% of its output performance in 25 years. A system using panels which degrade 4%/year will lose 64% of its output during the same period. Many panel makers offer a performance guarantee, typically 90% in ten years and 80% over 25 years. The output of all panels
1715-504: The order of 480 V AC up to 800 V AC . Electricity grids operate at much higher voltages of the order of tens or hundreds of thousands of volts, so transformers are incorporated to deliver the required output to the grid. Due to the long lead time, the Long Island Solar Farm chose to keep a spare transformer onsite, as transformer failure would have kept the solar farm offline for a long period. Transformers typically have
1764-516: The original EPC contractor. Solar plants' reliable solid-state systems require minimal maintenance, compared to rotating machinery. A major aspect of the O&;M contract will be continuous monitoring of the performance of the plant and all of its primary subsystems, which is normally undertaken remotely. This enables performance to be compared with the anticipated output under the climatic conditions actually experienced. It also provides data to enable
1813-414: The overall performance, it also increases the system's installation and maintenance cost. A solar inverter converts the array's power output from DC to AC , and connection to the utility grid is made through a high voltage, three phase step up transformer of typically 10 kV and above. The solar arrays are the subsystems which convert incoming light into electrical energy. They comprise
1862-507: The process, the developer will be able to update estimates of the anticipated performance and costs of the plant and the financial returns it should be able to deliver. Photovoltaic power stations occupy at least one hectare for each megawatt of rated output, so require a substantial land area; which is subject to planning approval. The chances of obtaining consent, and the related time, cost and conditions, vary by jurisdiction and location. Many planning approvals will also apply conditions on
1911-402: The same actuator can adjust the angle of several rows at once. Solar panels produce direct current (DC) electricity, so solar parks need conversion equipment to convert this to alternating current (AC), which is the form transmitted by the electricity grid. This conversion is done by inverters . To maximise their efficiency, solar power plants also vary the electrical load , either within
1960-422: The scheduling of both rectification and preventive maintenance. A small number of large solar farms use a separate inverter or maximizer for each solar panel, which provide individual performance data that can be monitored. For other solar farms, thermal imaging is used to identify non-performing panels for replacement. A solar park's income derives from the sales of electricity to the grid, and so its output
2009-440: The site of a solar farm can also be devoted to other productive uses, such as crop growing or biodiversity. The change in albedo affects local temperature. One study claims a temperature rise due to the heat island effect, and another study claims that surroundings in arid ecosystems become cooler. Agrivoltaics is using the same area of land for both solar photovoltaic power and agriculture . A recent study found that
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2058-411: The sky, and as its elevation changes throughout the year. These arrays need to be spaced out to reduce inter-shading as the sun moves and the array orientations change, so need more land area. They also require more complex mechanisms to maintain the array surface at the required angle. The increased output can be of the order of 30% in locations with high levels of direct radiation , but the increase
2107-407: The steeper winter tilt angle. Because the increased output is typically only a few percent, it seldom justifies the increased cost and complexity of this design. To maximise the intensity of incoming direct radiation, solar panels should be orientated normal to the sun's rays. To achieve this, arrays can be designed using two-axis trackers , capable of tracking the sun in its daily movement across
2156-471: The sun in one dimension – in its daily journey across the sky – but not adjusting for the seasons. The angle of the axis is normally horizontal, though some, such as the solar park at Nellis Air Force Base, which has a 20° tilt, incline the axis towards the equator in a north–south orientation – effectively a hybrid between tracking and fixed tilt. Single axis tracking systems are aligned along axes roughly north–south. Some use linkages between rows so that
2205-409: The treatment of the site after the station has been decommissioned in the future. A professional health, safety and environment assessment is usually undertaken during the design of a PV power station in order to ensure the facility is designed and planned in accordance with all HSE regulations. The availability, locality and capacity of the connection to the grid is a major consideration in planning
2254-454: The value of solar generated electricity coupled to shade-tolerant crop production created an over 30% increase in economic value from farms deploying agrivoltaic systems instead of conventional agriculture. A Solar landfill is a repurposed used landfill that is converted to a solar array solar farm. In some cases, several different solar power stations with separate owners and contractors are developed on adjacent sites. This can offer
2303-599: The world and become a mainstream power source. As solar power costs reached grid parity, PV systems were able to offer power competitively in the energy market. The subsidies and incentives, which were needed to stimulate the early market as detailed below, were progressively replaced by auctions and competitive tendering leading to further price reductions. The improving competitiveness of utility-scale solar became more visible as countries and energy utilities introduced auctions for new generating capacity. Some auctions are reserved for solar projects, while others are open to
2352-506: Was PV. In some countries, the nameplate capacity of photovoltaic power stations is rated in megawatt-peak (MW p ), which refers to the solar array's theoretical maximum DC power output. In other countries, the manufacturer states the surface and the efficiency. However, Canada, Japan, Spain, and the United States often specify using the converted lower nominal power output in MW AC ,
2401-544: Was installed in the Alqueva Dam reservoir, Portugal, enabling solar power and hydroelectric energy to be combined. Separately, a German engineering firm committed to integrating an offshore floating solar farm with an offshore wind farm to use ocean space more efficiently. The projects involve " hybridization ", in which different renewable energy technologies are combined in one site. The first successful test in January 2024 of
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