Depending on its operating system, there are two main types of solar plants: solar thermal power plants and solar photovoltaic plants. Although both solar thermal plants and photovoltaic power plants use solar energy to produce electricity, the process to generate it is different in each case.
In addition to conventional solar plants, photovoltaic systems installed on the roofs of buildings known as solar communities, which generate electricity for self-consumption and reduce energy costs, or solar farms, are two great examples of solar photovoltaic power plants. At Repsol, we have several photovoltaic projects:
A photovoltaic power plant is a large-scale PV system that is connected to the grid and designed to produce bulk electrical power from solar radiation. A photovoltaic power plant consists of several components, such as: Solar modules: The basic units of a PV system, made up of solar cells that turn light into electricity.
A solar power plant is a facility that converts solar radiation, made up of light, heat, and ultraviolet radiation, into electricity suitable to be supplied to homes and industries.
The largest solar power plant in the world is the Bhadla Solar Park, which was completed in 2020. This solar thermal power plant is located in Bhadla in the Jodhpur district of Rajasthan, India. The Bhadla Solar Park is a 2.25GW solar photovoltaic power plant and the largest solar farm in the world, encompassing nearly 14,000 acres of land.
A photovoltaic power plant consists of several components, such as: Solar modules: The basic units of a PV system, made up of solar cells that turn light into electricity. Solar cells, typically made from silicon, absorb photons and release electrons, creating an electric current.
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 the grid. Wiki-Solar reports total global capacity of utility-scale photovoltaic plants …