World’s largest solar plant takes Chinese conglomerate to top of developers table - Wiki Solar

A new company tops the list of utility-scale solar project developers released today by Wiki-Solar. China’s State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) rose to number one thanks to the 2.2 GWac project its subsidiary Huanghe Hydropower completed in Qinghai province last year.

Other notable climbers are NextEra Energy, whose subsidiary Florida Power and Light has commissioned several large projects in its home state; and France’s Engie with new plants in Europe, the Americas and Africa. “Established energy multinationals are now moving strongly into the solar market breaking the monopoly which specialist solar companies like First Solar, juwi and the late SunEdison used to hold a decade ago,” says Wiki-Solar’s Philip Wolfe.

The full table of the top 36 developers is available here: https://wiki-solar.org/company/developer/

TOP PLANT OWNERS

Some project developers retain ownership of the projects, so many of the companies above appear too in the list of the top plant owners also released today.

The full table of the top 36 owners is available here: https://wiki-solar.org/company/owner/

Additionally, other power producers and infrastructure funds buy plants from developers before or after construction. In the US these include Dominion, Global Infrastructure Partners, Con Ed, Duke Energy and D E Shaw Renewables (DESRI) all in the top 15. European investors on the list are France’s Neoen and Sonnedix; and UK-based Actis, Lightsource BP, Foresight and NextEnergy.

“Our lists are compiled from the cumulative AC capacity of operational plants over 4 MWac so owners with older subsidy-backed assets will appear lower than they would, if ranked by value,” says Wolfe. “Companies would also show higher figures if measured by MWp and if smaller projects were included.”

The world’s largest single solar plant

With a capacity of 2.2 GW ac (3.1 GWp), the new plant in Qinghai’s Gonghe County is the world’s largest single solar installation. Covering over 52 sq km, it was built by Huanghe Hydropower in just 10 months and connected in September 2020. The power generated in this remote part of the country is despatched via 1,500 km of 800-kV transmission lines to Beijing and Shanghai.

The new plant is some 15 km west of the Longyangxia project, also developed by SPIC. This was itself the world’s largest project when first commissioned in 2013, taking over from another of their projects – a 200-MWp installation from 2011 in Golmud Solar Park (about 500 km further west). SPIC’s reign was interrupted in 2019 when ADWEA’s 938 MWac project was commissioned in Abu Dhabi in 2019.

There are larger multi-phase or multiple owner ‘solar parks’, including Golmud Solar Park and Longyang­xia itself – both of which have been extended over the years to about 3 GWac – and Bhadla in India.

T E X T E N D S

Notes for editors:

[1] This release on the utility-scale solar market is available here: http://wiki-solar.org/library/public/210428_Gigaproject_changes_top_utility-scale_solar_developers+owners.pdf

[2] The top-list, with further details of the role of the project developer is shown on Wiki-Solar’s website here: https://wiki-solar.org/company/developer/; and equivalent details for plant owners/IPPs are given here: https://wiki-solar.org/company/owner/.

[3] Wiki-Solar defines ‘utility-scale solar’ as 4 MWac and above (≈5 MWp for PV; ≈ electricity for 1,500 households in Europe) see: http://wiki-solar.org/data/glossary/utility-scale.html.

[4] Figures are based on the AC export rating of operational plants. Projects under development are excluded until they have been commissioned.

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