Biggest Solar Farms In The Us

The United States is moving toward more renewable energy sources, as are many other countries around the world. This is done to reduce the use of fossil fuels and carbon emissions. The biggest economy in the world has built some of the biggest and most beautiful solar farms in the world, bringing the total solar capacity of the country to well over 92 gigatons.

The California Solar Star

Solar Star is both the biggest solar farm in the world and the biggest in the U.S. About 1.7 million solar panels are spread out over 13 square kilometers at the factory in Kern and Los Angeles Counties, California. Solar Star is made up of two parts: Solar Star 1 and Solar Star 2, which can each produce 314MW or 265MW. It makes 579 megawatts of electricity.

It’s important to know that an US solar farm is being built right now, and when it’s done, it will be bigger than the Solar Star and be the largest solar farm in the U.S. Solar Start has more than 1.7 million solar panels in Kern and Los Angeles Counties, California. These panels cover more than 13 square kilometers. 

Solar Star 1 and Solar Star 2 are the two separate parts of the project. The first one can handle 314MW, while the second one can handle 265MW. Solar Star makes 579 megawatts of power, which is enough to run about 255,000 homes. Over 650 jobs were made possible by the building of this solar farm, which took three years. “CleanTechnica” says that during its lifetime, Solar Star also created 40 maintenance jobs, 15 of which were full-time.

California’s Topaz Solar Farm

The solar farm covers more than 15 square kilometers and can power 160,000 homes with electricity. 580 MW is how much power the solar farm at Topaz can make. Market research shows that the facility generates enough energy each year to replace about 407,000 metric tones of CO2.  The solar panels are on 1.5-meter-long steel columns and are set up in huge geometric patterns with access roads.

Ivanpah Solar, California 

At the base of Clark Mountain in California is the third-largest solar power plant in the United States. The $2.2 billion solar complex was put together by Bright Source Energy and Bechtel. NRG Energy is the main investor in the project. The capacity of the solar power plant is 392 megawatts. The first part of the project was tested by hooking it up to the power grid.

When the Ivanpah Solar Project started up, it was the biggest solar power plant in the world. At the factory, more than 300,000 solar panels have been put in. A five-square-mile concentrated solar thermal plant is in the Mojave Desert. It is called the Ivanpah Solar Plant. It is in California, near the base of Clark Mountain.

Bright Source Energy and Bechtel worked together to build the project, which cost $2.2 billion. The main investor in the project was NRG Energy, which put $300 million into it. But many people have said that the idea is bad because it would destroy animals’ homes and “fry” birds that fly too close to the heated towers. The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System has almost 300,000 mirrors that catch the sun 330 to 350 days a year.

The Arizona Agua Caliente Solar Project

The Agua Caliente Solar Project is in Arizona. It was built on land that used to be used for farming and was spread out at White Wing Ranch. The area was chosen because it gets a lot of sunlight and doesn’t have any transmission infrastructure.

The project was built by Next Light Renewable, but First Solar bought it in July. The project was bought from First Solar by NRG Energy in 2011.  In December, the first part of the project, which has a capacity of 39 MW, started to work. The second phase was finished in April, and the third phase was opened in July.

Nevada’s Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project

A concentrated solar power (CSP) farm is in Tonopah, Nevada, in the United States. The US Bureau of Land Management is in charge of more than 1,600 acres of public land where the building is. The solar farm is made to last for thirty years.

Crescent Dunes Solar can handle 110 megawatts of power and has been in business since 2011. It is the first utility-scale solar power plant in the U.S., and its unique technology for storing energy is a big part of its appeal. It is also the biggest solar farm with built-in energy storage in the world. The total cost of building the complex was $1 billion.

Solar panel production has gone through the roof in the U.S. and around the world as countries try to tap into what seems to be an endless source of energy: the sun. LG and Sun power are two of the best-known companies that make solar panels. Demand and income in the space have grown with every year that passes.