In this brief reading, we’ll tell you about the 13 largest solar panel farms in the United States, along with a short description of them.
Solar panel farms throughout the years have gotten more efficient and more significant, and according to a study done by Environment America, more than ten percent of every house in the United States can be run on solar power.
Let’s get into it!
Largest Solar Panel Field [USA]
TOPAZ SOLAR FARM
The Topaz Solar Farm is one of the largest solar projects in the world. Being built in 2014 and owned by a private company, they work closely with the county and the Pacific Gas and Electric Company to sell the energy produced to be used in the cities and counties nearby.
Size: 7.3 square miles
Location: San Luis Obispo County, California
The Energy Produced: 1,270 GigaWatt-hours per year
COPPER MOUNTAIN SOLAR 1 FACILITY
With 775,000 solar panels, the Copper Mountain Solar 1 Facility is owned by Sempra Generation, and they comprise one of the largest photovoltaic (PV) solar plants in North America. With their solar panels, they generate clean enough, affordable energy to take care of 20,000 California homes while displacing carbon dioxide equivalent to taking about 6,000 cars off the road.
Size: 6.3 square miles
Location: Near Las Vegas, Nevada
The Energy Produced: 110 GigaWatt-hours per year
DESERT SUNLIGHT SOLAR FARM
Co-owned by NextEra Energy Resources, GE Energy Financial Services, and Sumitomo Corporation of America, the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm provides enough energy to power 160,000 California homes. It displaces enough carbon dioxide to replace 60,000 cars on the road. The best part is that this farm has one of the lowest environmental impacts of any PV technology, and no water is used for electricity generation.
Size: 6.2 square miles
Location: Desert Center, California
The Energy Produced: 1,300 GigaWatt-hours per year
MOUNT SIGNAL SOLAR
The Mount Signal Solar Project is a utility-scale photovoltaic power plant owned by Silver Ridge Power, formerly known as AES Solar, and co-developed by 8minuteenergy Renewables. Powering 72,000 homes in the San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) territory is among the world’s largest single-axis tracker solar power plants.
Size: 3.1 square miles
Location: Imperial County, California
The Energy Produced: 1,200 GigaWatt-hours per year
Solar Star
Owned by BHE Solar, a subsidiary of BHE Renewables, the Solar Star is one of the widely known solar farms in the United States. With enough energy to provide power to 255,000 homes, the project is creating more than $500 million in regional economic impact, including the 650 construction jobs and 15 full-time operations and maintenance positions created over their three-year construction period.
Size: 5 square miles
Location: Rosamond, California
The Energy Produced: 1,660 GigaWatt-hours per year
CALIFORNIA FLATS SOLAR PROJECT
Developed by First Solar, a leading provider of comprehensive photovoltaic energy solutions, the California Flats Solar Project powers more than 100,000 homes every year. The farm also displaces over 109,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, which is equivalent to removing 22,000 cars off the road. The project is specifically located to minimize environmental impacts and is not visible from any public gathering points or significant roads to reduce visual pollution.
Size: 4.5 square miles
Location: Monterey County, California
The Energy Produced: 650 GigaWatt-hours per year
SILVER STATE SOUTH SOLAR PROJECT
Built by First Solar and owned and operated by NextEra, the Silver State South Solar Project provides power under a 20-year agreement to Southern California Edison. The solar project generates over $78 million in property taxes to fix roads and provide infrastructure for the local area, Clark County.
Size: 4.5 square miles
Location: Clark County, Nevada
The Energy Produced: 700 GigaWatt-hours per year
AGUA CALIENTE SOLAR PROJECT
Designed, built, and operated by First Solar, the Agua Caliente Solar Project powers over 100,000 average homes in the area and displaces enough carbon dioxide to equal the removal of 40,000 cars off of the road. From this solar project, wages and benefits from up to 400 construction jobs will be generated over four years, local and state tax revenues are increased, and there are benefits to businesses in the area, from engineering and design firms to construction subcontractors, suppliers, and service providers.
Size: 3.7 square miles
Location: Near Yuma, Arizona
The Energy Produced: 740 GigaWatt-hours per year
MESQUITE SOLAR PROJECT
Owned and financed by the Department of Energy themselves, the Mesquite Solar Project was issued $337 million to create 300 construction jobs, support 12 permanent jobs. Using innovative inverter technology supplied by Advanced Energy, the design of the farm involves liquid cooling, which makes its application in a desert-like facility ideal. Because of its bi-polar design, this inverter does not require a built-in transformer and does not need an enclosure to cool the solar panels.
Size: 3.6 square miles
Location: Maricopa County, Arizona
The Energy Produced: 1,140 GigaWatt-hours per year
TECHREN SOLAR PROJECT
Freshly out of development, the Techren Solar Project is one of the most extensive solar photovoltaic facilities in the United States. Techren Solar was sold to a partner before COD and is now contracted under a 25-year power purchase agreement with the state of Nevada to provide clean and competitive-priced energy to the greater Las Vegas communities. With plenty of desert land, the solar farm doesn’t disturb any environmental habitats while accomplishing the challenge of producing utility-scale energy to one of the most demanding US metropolises.
Size: 3.6 square miles
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
The Energy Produced: 920 GigaWatt-hours per year
MCCOY SOLAR ENERGY PROJECT
With NextEra Energy as its leader and financial provider, the McCoy Solar Energy Project is one of the most significant solar photovoltaic projects in the US development pipeline. Built on 477 acres of privately owned land, there are over 516,000 individual solar panels and inverters, up to two water wells, access roads, and distribution lines owned by Southern California Edison (SCE). NextEra will be paying $150 per acre ($350,000 in total) for the project’s proposed 30-year lifetime, increased two percent annually.
Size: 3.6 square miles
Location: Riverside County, California
The Energy Produced: 750 GigaWatt-hours per year
GARLAND SOLAR FACILITY
Southern Power, PKA, and PenSam owned Garland Solar Facility consists of over 800,000 solar panels laid out over 2,000 acres of land. With an advanced tracking system, the sun doesn’t only provide energy during peak hours; from dusk to dawn, all of the solar panels track the sun to achieve the highest amount of energy for the most efficiency, which results in higher energy produced per year.
Size: 3.1 square miles
Location: Kern County, California
The Energy Produced: 550 GigaWatt-hours per year
GA SOLAR 4 PROJECT
Georgia’s largest solar plant, the GA Solar 4 Project, produces enough energy to power approximately 43,000 homes in the Georgia area. With over 230 tons of coal saved every year, this solar farm is still being improved, built, and maintained today—there are plans to add even more solar panels to produce even more energy to power more homes. As most large solar plants are near the West Coast, this gives the East Coast and other parts of the United States incentive to “catch up.”
Size: 3.1 square miles
Location: Twiggs County, Georgia
The Energy Produced: 600 GigaWatt-hours per year
Wrap Up
A large portion of these solar plants is near the West Coast, in parts of California and Nevada mostly, and this is because of the flat, deserted land that isn’t being occupied.
Even though the East Coast and the Midwest get about the same amount of sunlight, if not more, most of the area gets used by crops and farms to produce food, and it wouldn’t be feasible to put a large size of solar panels in a place that forests, farms, or houses already use.
In the future, as more solar farms are built, more people will have access to affordable and accessible electricity all around the nation.
