The Kamuthi solar facility in Tamil Nadu, India, has a total generation capacity of 648MW.

Covering 10km² and consisting of 2.5 million solar panels, the site is estimated to produce enough power for 750,000 people.

Completed in September 2016 at a cost of approximately $679m, the station was built in just eight months.

The plant is cleaned every day by a robotic system, which is itself charged by its own solar panels.

Kamuthi Solar Power Station

The Longyangxia solar park has a total capacity of 850MW, sufficient to power 200,000 households.

The site sits on the Tibetan Plateau in northwestern China’s Qinghai province and is operated by State Power Investment Corporation, one of China’s top five power generators.

Phase I was completed in 2013 and Phase II was completed in 2015, with a total construction cost of around 6 billion yuan ($920.84m).

Longyangxia Dam Solar Park

Kurnool solar park covers 24km² in the Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh, with a total generating capacity of 1,000MW. Construction costs were around $1bn.

Over four million solar panels were installed in the park, each with a capacity of 315W or 320W.

On sunny days, the site is able to generate more than 8 million kWh of electricity, sufficient to meet virtually the entire electricity demand of the Kurnool district.

View of Tirupati city in Andhra Pradesh

Located in the Mexican state of Coahuila, the photovoltaic (PV) facility comprises over 2.3 million solar panels across 2,400 hectares in the Mexican semiarid region. It will be able to produce more than 1,700GWh per year once fully operational, with completion expected in the second half of 2018.

The Enel Group is investing approximately $650m in the construction of Villanueva. The plant is currently over 41% completed, equivalent to around 310MW.

Enel Villanueva PV Plant. Credit: Enel Group

The Tengger solar park, located in Zhongwei, Ningxia, is currently the largest PV plant in the world in terms of both size and production.

Dubbed the ‘Great Wall of Solar’, it covers 1,200km of the 36,700km Tengger desert, occupying 3.2% of the arid region.

The site’s output is 1,547MW of power.

Sand dunes in Shapotou National Park, Ningxia

The Shakti Sthala solar park spans 52.6km² across five villages in the drought-prone Pavagada region of Tumkur district. It has a total capacity of 2,000MW.

The Indian Government said in a statement that the first phase of the park will generate 600MW, while a further 1,400MW is expected to be commissioned by the end of this year.

The first phase of the project became operational on 1 March this year.

Shakti Sthala Solar Plant. Credit: The Hindu

The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park has a planned capacity of 1,000MW by 2020, and 5,000MW by 2030, which will make it the biggest solar power plant in the world. Upon completion, it is hoped that the park will reduce over 6.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

PV and concentrated solar power technologies will be used to provide clean energy to residents of Dubai. The site will also include an innovation centre, a research & development centre, testing facilities and a solar powered water desalination plant.

Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. Credit: Ghadir Shaar

Bhadla solar farm is spread over 45km² in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur district. Once all four phases of the project are completed, the site will be able to produce 2,255MW of electricity. It is due to become operational by December 2019.

Over a million solar panels have already been installed, although only around 15% of the total park is currently operational.

BK Dosi, managing director of the Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation, the main developer of the project, said it will be “the jewel of Rajasthan and the showpiece of India’s solar power programme”.

The Blue City and Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur, Rajasthan