China now claims “world’s largest” with solar plan
Funny, seems anybody these days can claim they’re going to build the world’s largest solar power station. The latest claim comes out of China, which says it will build a 100-megawatt solar generating facility over the next five years at a cost of $766 million (U.S.).
And what about Australia’s claim of a 154-megawatt station? Or the 300-megawatt project being explored in New Mexico? What’s the criteria these days to claim “world’s largest”? Until we see any of these projects break ground, I’d consider them for what they are: PR.
That said, if such projects are serious and we keep seeing more of them announced, this industry indeed has a bright future. These massive projects will also go a long way in bringing down the cost of solar to everyone’s benefit.
Tyler Hamilton is senior energy reporter and columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the cleantech market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper. Tyler can be reached at tyler@cleanbreak.ca