The largest solar energy project in the United States is under construction in Arkansas. The Steel River Energy Center will eventually include 2.5 GW of solar and 2.9 GWh of battery energy storage.
Construction began in July on the first two phases of the project, which will deliver 1.5 GW of solar generation and 1.8 GWh of battery storage to the local electric grid. The three-phase project is expected to be completed by 2029.
Cypress Creek Energy is the owner of the project and has already entered into a power purchase agreement for the first two phases of the project with Google. This represents the largest solar and storage project across Google’s global portfolio.
The current largest operating solar project in the U.S. is the Edwards and Sanborn Solar + Energy Storage facility in Kern County, California. It went online in 2024 and includes 875 MW of solar along with 3.287 GWh of energy storage.
There are other huge solar+storage projects that have been proposed, including two more in California. There is the Darden Clean Energy project in Fresno County, that will include 3.1 million solar panels yielding 1.15 gigawatts along with 4.6 GWh of storage, and is under construction with completing aimed for 2028. There is also the Perkins Renewable Energy Project in Imperial Country which would also feature 1.15 GW of solar. That project is in the permitting stage.
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Massive new Google-backed solar project poised to become nation’s largest, with US-made steel, modules
