World’s Largest Solar PV Farm to be Built in U.S.? Maybe!

July 22nd, 2011 by Tim Tyler

The race is on to choose the best location for the world’s largest solar power complex in the United States.

Solar power experts have been working behind the scenes on a project that will see the most advanced and the largest solar power farm emerging to change the landscape somewhere in the southeastern United States.

By last count, there were seven finalists left, all hoping to have the solar farm in their midst.

The International Energy Agency in this year’s global outlook says renewable energy sources will raise their profile in the coming months. All seven communities named as finalists for the solar farm are located in southeastern United States, the agency said.

National Solar Power, a utility-scale solar power developer, said four were in Florida, two in Georgia and one in North Carolina.

“We are excited about the progress we have made in narrowing the search for establishing our groundbreaking solar farm project that will provide a source for renewable energy for consumers while boosting job creation and economic health in the winning community,” NSP Chief Executive Officer James Scrivener said.

“Over the next month we will continue our due diligence and make a final decision about where this revolutionary venture will make its permanent home. Every one of the communities on our finalist list is an attractive location for this project,” he said.

The communities NSP has selected as finalists are: Gadsden, Hardee, Osceola and Suwannee counties in Florida, Sumter and Tatnall counties in Georgia, and Guilford County (Greensboro-area) in North Carolina.

NSP plans to establish a 400-megawatt solar project in the winning community, which would make it the world’s largest photovoltaic power plant. The project is made up of 20 related 200-acre solar farms, with each generating more than 20-megawatts of renewable energy.

The world’s largest solar power plant at present is an 80-megawatt solar project in Ontario, Canada.

By converting the natural power of the sun into electricity, NSP’s planned 400-megawatt farm will be capable of providing enough renewable energy to power roughly 32,000 homes.

The project will likely inject hundreds of millions of dollars into the winning community. NSP said its landmark project has the potential to create 400 jobs during the five-year construction phase and up to 120 permanent jobs that will all be based on a clean energy endeavor.

The first phase of the solar farm project is expected to be up and running within six months of construction commencing, Scrivener said.

h/t UPI.com

Photo Credit: pixor

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Tags: International Energy Agency, National Solar Power, solar farm, Solar farms being built in the U.S, Solar in the United States, what is the largest solar farm in the world, Worlds largest solar farm

About the Author

Tim Tyler Holds an electronic's engineering degree and is working toward a second degree in IT/web development. Enjoy's renewable energy topic's and has a passion for the environment. Part time writer and web developer, full time husband and father.

Suziecameron

I Understand that Suwannee County was one of the counties in the running and the county choosen was Gadsden County I am a land owner in Suwannee County and I would likr to find out about the possibility of leasing land to your company for a solar farm fot our county. PLease post how Ican contact you about this possibility of leasing property. I believe this eould be good for our county as well, was not sure if you were looking at how the counties were picked, state land or private owned land. Thank you for your time, i can be reached via e-mail at suziecameron@windstream.net.
Sana Modern

what about solar power station in arab countries?

max. power MW !!!
PLACES OF P.S !!
TYPE &MANUFACTURERS OF SOLAR COMPONENTS.
Pingback: 400-Megawatt Solar Farm Planned in Northern Florida | CleanTechnica
Pingback: World's Largest Solar PV Farm to be Built in U.S. | WV Outpost
Tsvieps

Almost useless article. What is the cost per KWH? Govt subsidizing PV that is too expensive is an old story…in Europe and U.S.
- Anonymous
  
  with all due respect, many people read articles on solar power for many different reasons. while you might find this useless for your needs, thousands more find it useful and interesting..
  - Tsvieps
    
    Agree. Fact of building a big PV farm is useful news. However, I tire of articles that hype the positives, especially the creation of “green” jobs and ignore the costs–higher utility rates or higher taxes that cause destruction of other jobs. The good news is that installed PV system costs are coming down rapidly. If PV farms are close to cities and power generation overlaps with peak electric use, they may prevent building new gas fired plants that only operate at Peak. In such cases, producing power at 5 times the cost of a base power gas fired plant is not so off based economically…or at least will not be in a few years. But these are big “ifs” and deserve analysis in a good article on PV installations.
    
    Thanks for your comments.
Anumakonda Jagadeesh

Yes. US will be the leader soon in Wind and Solar.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India
Wind Energy Expert
E-mail: anumakonda.jagadeesh@gmail.com