The world’s largest solar plant has been connected to the grid in China earlier this week, it has been revealed.
The 3.5-gigawatt (GW), 32,947-acre farm, in a desert area of Xinjiang capital Urumqi, came online earlier this week, according to Reuters.
A Chinese state-owned company said it had connected the world’s biggest solar plant to the grid in northwestern Xinjiang. It is reported that the facility will generate around 6.09 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity each year.
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China is a world leader in sun-powered energy adoption, increasing its capacity in 2023 by more than 50% on the previous year.
According to the Independent, the new plant overtakes the Ningxia Teneggeli and Golmud Wutumeiren solar projects, which are also in China, to become the largest in the world.
Xinjiang, a vast region of deserts and mountains, has become central to the country’s renewable energy efforts, powering its more populous cities.
In the UK, earlier this year a renewable energy developer had plans for a solar farm the size of nearly 180 football pitches kyboshed by the government.
