Solar Star is a 579-
megawatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after Jame ...
(
MWAC)
photovoltaic power station
A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building ...
near
Rosamond,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
, that is operated and maintained by SunPower Services. When completed in June 2015, it was the
world's largest solar farm in terms of installed capacity, using 1.7 million solar panels, made by
SunPower and spread over 13 square kilometers (3,200 acres).
Comparison to similar plants
Compared to other photovoltaic plants of similar size, Solar Star uses a smaller number (1.7 million) of large form-factor, high-wattage, high-efficiency, higher cost
crystalline silicon
Crystalline silicon or (c-Si) Is the crystalline forms of silicon, either polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si, consisting of small crystals), or monocrystalline silicon (mono-Si, a continuous crystal). Crystalline silicon is the dominant semiconduc ...
modules, mounted on single axis trackers. In contrast, the
Desert Sunlight Solar Farm
The Desert Sunlight Solar Farm is a 550 megawatt (MW AC) photovoltaic power station approximately six miles north of Desert Center, California, United States, in the Mojave Desert. It uses approximately 8.8 million cadmium telluride mod ...
and the
Topaz Solar Farm (550 MW each) use a larger number (roughly 9 million) of smaller form-factor, lower wattage, lower efficiency, lower cost thin-film
CdTe photovoltaic modules, mounted on fixed-tilt arrays and spread over a larger land area. Both approaches appear commercially viable.
There are a number of other solar photovoltaic plants nearby:
*
Antelope Valley Solar Ranch (266 MW from 3.8 million thin film panels)
*Alpine Solar (66 MW AC, thin film panels)
*
Catalina Solar Project (60 MW, thin film panels)
Electricity production
Solar Star 1's nameplate capacities are 398 MW
dc and 314 MW
ac.
Solar Star 2's nameplate capacities are 350 MW
dc and 266 MW
ac.
See also
*
Solar power in California
*
List of photovoltaic power stations
The following is a list of photovoltaic power stations that are larger than 300 megawatts (MW) in current net capacity.Note that nominal power may be AC or DC, depending on the plant, and therefore any totals quoted are hybrid. SeAC-DC conundru ...
References
External links
Fact sheet from SunPower
{{Solar power in the United States
Solar power stations in California
Photovoltaic power stations in the United States
Buildings and structures in Kern County, California
Energy infrastructure completed in 2015