A Chinese state-owned enterprise announced on Monday the successful connection of the world's largest solar plant to the grid in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. The 3.5-gigawatt (GW) solar farm, sprawling over 32,947 acres in the desert area near Urumqi, commenced operations on Monday, as confirmed by a notice on the state asset regulator's website, referencing the Power Construction Corp of China.
According to the announcement, the colossal facility is anticipated to generate approximately 6.09 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity annually. This capacity would be adequate to meet the energy needs of a country like Papua New Guinea for a full year.
Previously, the two largest operational solar facilities were also situated in western China. These include Longyuan Power Group's Ningxia Tenggeli desert solar project and China Lüfa Qinghai New Energy's Golmud Wutumeiren solar complex, each boasting a capacity of 3GW, as documented by the Global Energy Monitor's solar power tracker.
Xinjiang, known for its abundance of solar and wind resources, has emerged as a focal point for substantial renewable energy installations. These installations transmit a significant portion of their generated power across considerable distances to meet the energy demands of China's densely populated eastern seaboard.
