Worlds largest solar plant goes online using 9 million solar panels

NewImage

Via Geeky Gadgets.

Construction of the world’s largest solar plant called Topaz, has now been finished by First Solar and the 550-megawatt plant is now online generating electricity for 160,000 homes on Pacific Gas and Electric’s grid.

Topaz has been constructed on the California Carrizo Plain band, and consists of 9 million solar panels covering a massive area of 9.5 square miles.

As the solar power plant goes through its business of transforming sunlight into energy it will also displace 377,000 tons of CO2 every year. Topaz has been specifically built at least six miles away from some of the more sensitive areas of the Carrizo Plain National Monument and prime agricultural lands and is the first 500-megawatt plus solar farm to come on-line in the U.S. and the largest solar plant on-line in the world.

“The solar farm was not the recipient of a loan guarantee and is built on “disturbed farm land” miles away from sensitive areas in the Carrizo Plain National Monument. First Solar suggests that the project will create $192 million in pay for approximately 400 construction positions over the three-year build and “$52 million in economic output for local suppliers.” PG&E will purchase the electricity from the Topaz project under a power-purchase agreement.”

Read more.


Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards

Join Adafruit on Mastodon

Adafruit is on Mastodon, join in! adafruit.com/mastodon

Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.

Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.

Join us every Wednesday night at 8pm ET for Ask an Engineer!

Join over 36,000+ makers on Adafruit’s Discord channels and be part of the community! http://adafru.it/discord

CircuitPython – The easiest way to program microcontrollers – CircuitPython.org


Maker Business — “Packaging” chips in the US

Wearables — Enclosures help fight body humidity in costumes

Electronics — Transformers: More than meets the eye!

Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: Silicon Labs introduces CircuitPython support, and more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi

Adafruit IoT Monthly — Guardian Robot, Weather-wise Umbrella Stand, and more!

Microsoft MakeCode — MakeCode Thank You!

EYE on NPI — Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey

New Products – Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers! — #NewProds 7/19/23 Feat. Adafruit Matrix Portal S3 CircuitPython Powered Internet Display!

Get the only spam-free daily newsletter about wearables, running a "maker business", electronic tips and more! Subscribe at AdafruitDaily.com !



1 Comment

  1. This is really amazing, the largest Solar panel farm. It is truly magnificent seeing this.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.