World’s biggest solar plant… congratulations India!

India has today unveiled the world’s largest solar plant, which is located in the south of the country. The facility has taken the title from Topaz Solar Farm in California, which has a capacity of 550MW, India’s plant will be able to produce 648MW. The plant is going to be situated in Kamuthi, Tamil Nadu and will cover a staggering 10 sq/km. 
Perhaps the most impressive thing about the plant is the speed in which it was erected, it took just 8 months from start to finish. The system will be cleaned on a daily basis by a robotic system, which itself is powered by solar energy. When the system is hitting full capacity the system will be able to power 150’000 homes; this plant will provide a substantial base for India’s national goal of being able to power 60 million homes by 2022 just through energy provided by the sun. The project is comprised of 2.5 million individual solar modules, and cost $679m to build.

It is expected that India will soon become the third-biggest solar market in the world, behind just China and the United States. Environmental groups from around the world have been quick to heap the praise on India, especially as a reaction to the countries increasingly alarming levels of pollution, namely in the capital of New Delhi which this month hit its worst level for 17 years.