As of this month Spain is the home of the biggest solar farm in the world. The solar farm is located in the Southeastern Spain in Jumilla, Murcia. This solar plant is not only the biggest but is also the most efficient - it produces 20 MW and it can power upto 20,000 houses.
The 120,000 solar panels cover an area of 100 hectares, were build in 11 months by 400 people and are expected to generate an income of $28 million yearly. Although probably 1 million trees were cleared, the authorities claim that they ensured high environmental criteria, also they said that the CO2 emission will be reduced by 42,000 tons per year.
This project was developed with the efforts of Luzentia Group with the help of Elecnor’s solar industry Atersa. The providers of the solar panels were Ningbo, Solon, Suntech, Yingli and of course Atersa. The system’s performance was improved by Sunpower Corp with its patented single axis solar tracker.
This solar farm is a huge step in the Europe’s quest for ensuring 20% of total energy with the contribution of solar and wind farms. As Europe is becoming more greener, we expect United States to do the same thing.
February 16th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Awesome blog - I’ve linked to you. I hope you do the same.
Simmons
February 16th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
I can see in the picture that a large part of the forest has been cleared to make way for the solar farm.
It’s such a dilemma, to make solar energy possible we will have to shift huge tracts of lands away from greenery.
Would it not be a good idea to support this with smaller community based energy projects?
Sadly, there seems to be no perfect answer.
February 27th, 2008 at 6:54 am
[...] Well, finally some good news for the environment! It seems like the U.S. Congress will renew the clean energy tax credit which would expire by the end of this year and if they do this they will begin the construction of what it will be the biggest solar farm in the world (currently Spain holds the record). [...]
March 5th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
[...] The solar power plant in Jumilla, Murcia, Spain is currently the largest solar energy plant in the world. It produces 20 megawatts with 120,000 photovoltaic (PV) panels. The panels are spread over an area of 100 hectares and provide enough electricity for the equivalent of about 20,000 houses. With construction recently finished, the plant is expected to generate $28 million USD. The project was completed by Luzentia Group with help from Elecnor’s solar industry Atersa. The solar plant was built over 11 months with 400 people in an area that locals say is perfect since it receives about 300 days of sun a year. (Photo, source: Technology for Life via EcoFuss.) [...]