China building ‘world’s largest’ solar farm near Mongolia
09 July 2024
The ‘world’s largest solar’ farm – a planned 8 GW behemoth in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China – has been announced by state-owned power company China Three Gorges Renewables Group at a cost of just less than US$11 billion.
An AI-generated render of a massive solar farm in a desert; much like the future ‘world’s largest’ project underway in China. (Image: Adobe Stock)
Estimated to span 200,000 acres (809km2), the farm will be almost 100km2 larger than the island of Singapore, and about 30km2 larger than New York City, New York, US.
In addition to the record-breaking size and solar power output – China’s Xinjiang solar farm, as of this June, is currently the planet’s largest at 3.5-gigawatt (GW) capacity – the project will also provide other forms of power.
For example, there are plans to construct infrastructure to produce 4 gigawatt/hours (GWh) of wind power, 5 GWh of energy storage capacity, 200 megawatts (MW) of solar thermal power, and 4 GW of coal-fire power, according to media coverage of Three Gorges Renewables’ Shanghai-listed stock filing.
Three Gorges controls a 56% stake in the project with Mongolia Energy Group holding the remainder.
Expected to open in 2027, the farm will be capable of powering approximately six million homes.
China leading the way in solar energy production
While exact figures can be hard to come by, China’s progress in solar infrastructure construction is seeminly head-and-shoulders above other countries.
The Ordos facility alone, once complete, will produce more than half of the entire solar capacity of the United Kingdom (which is near 15 GW).
China is believed to have installed more than 300 GW of solar capacity of the presumed 1 terawatt (TW) of solar energy produced globally; meaning the country has the capacity to produce one-third of Earth’s solar energy.
“In 2023, China commissioned as much solar photovoltaics as the entire world did in 2022, while its wind additions also grew by 66% year-on-year. Globally, solar photovoltaics alone accounted for three-quarters of renewable capacity additions worldwide,” noted the France-based International Energy Agency.
The next closest country measured by solar capacity is the US with less than 200 GW, with Japan third with less than 100 GW.
