The largest electric power plant in the world is the Three Gorges Dam in China, which has a capacity of 22.5 gigawatts. The largest in the US is also a hydroelectric plant: the Grand Coulee Dam that has a capacity of nearly 7 gigawatts. But solar panels keep getting cheaper and developers keep getting better at installing them. As a result, there are bigger and bigger solar projects that are taking over the lead in giant power plants.
The Khavda Renewable Energy Park in India includes solar panels, wind turbines, and battery banks. The giant facility, entirely the work of billionaire Gautam Adani, is employing 15,000 laborers as it continues to grow and will have a total of 30 gigawatts of combined solar and wind capacity.
The Talatan Solar Park in China currently can produce nearly 17 gigawatts and is still growing. Multi-gigawatt solar projects are becoming commonplace in China. Like the giant facility in India, Talatan is located in a sparsely populated plateau. These projects are very different from the Three Gorges Dam project that displaced a million people when construction started in the 1990s.
The Westlands Water District in California’s Central Valley has a plan to build a sprawling 21-gigawatt solar complex connected to a privately developed transmission corridor.
Solar power now represents more than half of all new electricity capacity additions worldwide. While solar still accounts for only about 8% of the world’s electricity production, giant solar plants coming on line means that percentage will rapidly grow.
