Photovoltaic Solar Power in 15 Pictures

Photovoltaic solar power is booming: from the construction of giant farms to inclusion in urban and rural planning, it is growing all over the world.

1. China Set to Become the Leading Solar Power
Though it still trails Germany for now, China will be the country with the most installed solar capacity by 2020. At 200 megawatts (MW), Golmud Solar Park is one of the world's biggest. And construction has started on a 100 megawatt concentrated photovoltaic power plant in Wuchuan in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (photo). Parabolic through collectors will concentrate the sun's rays on the solar panels, boosting the park's conversion efficiency.

2. The Race is On to Build the World's Largest Solar Farm
With a capacity of 579 megawatts (MW), the Solar Star Projects in California is set to be the world's biggest solar farm at end-2015 (see photo). Located north of Los Angeles and comprised of 1.7 million panels, it will be able to supply power to 255,000 households. That will best the current record held by the Agua Caliente Solar Project in the nearby state of Arizona, which had generating capacity of 247 MW (AC) as of August 2013.

3. India Competes with China
The Indian government has publicly announced its goal of catching up with major solar hub China. Here workers are putting the finishing touches on the Charanka Solar Park, located 250 kilometers from Ahmedabad in Gujarat State, in April 2012. With a capacity of more than 200 megawatts (MW), it is considered the world's second-biggest park, tied with Golmud Solar Park in China.

4. Germany, a Pioneer in Solar Energy
Germany was the first country to invest massively in solar and remains the leader with 36 gigawatts (GW) of installed capacity, ahead of China and Japan. But China will overtake it before 2020. Bavaria Solarpark, shown in the photo, consists of three systems and has been operating since 2004 using photovoltaic panels that track the sun's path. The biggest German park is Finsterwalde, which boasts a capacity of 81 megawatts (MW) and has been in service since 2010.

5. France's Biggest Solar Park is in the East
The biggest French — and European — photovoltaic power plant, Toul-Rosières, began operating in 2012 near Nancy. Built on a decommissioned air base, it has 1.4 million photovoltaic panels and generates 115 megawatts (MW) of power, enough to supply over 50,000 households. Construction began on another giant, multi-plant project with 300 megawatts (MW) of combined output in the town of Cestas, near Bordeaux, in late 2014.

6. Capturing Sunlight in the Acatama Desert
Chile has gone all in on developing renewables and is the site of a huge solar park in the Atacama Desert, at the foot of the Andes mountains. Connected to the grid in November 2014, Project Salvador, as it's called, is the world's biggest merchant solar power plant — one that sells the power it produces in the spot market. It has a capacity of 70 megawatts (MW).

7. Brasilia, an Eco-Friendly Stadium
Inaugurated for the 2014 World Cup, Brasilia's stadium features all of the most innovative technologies. Its nearly 10,000 rooftop photovoltaic panels produce a combined 2.5 megawatts (MW) of power and meet 100% of the stadium's power needs, while LED lights cut energy use. The structure has a membrane that lets through light but captures polluting particles and the roof collects rainwater.

8. Africa Invests in Solar Energy
Together with Morocco, South Africa is the African country that is most advanced in photovoltaic solar power development. The sun's rays in South Africa are twice as intense as the sunlight recorded in Europe. Two parks, Greefspan and Herbet (pictured in the photo), generating 11 and 22 megawatts (MW) respectively, have been built in Northern Cape Province, north of Cape Town. Six other parks are planned.

9. Australia Boasts Enormous Solar Energy Resources
One of the sunniest places on earth, Australia ranks just sixth globally in installed solar power capacity. But the country quintupled its photovoltaic production between 2010 and 2012.The photo shows the Uterne Solar Power Project in Alice Springs, right in the center of Australia, which will quadruple its capacity in 2015.

10. A "Mountain Hut" in the Middle of the Swiss Alps
The famous STEM university ETH Zurich has sponsored an innovative "mountain hut" project to celebrate its 150th anniversary. The hut's five stories are shaped like a crystal and capture the sunlight on Monte Rosa at an altitude of nearly 3,000 meters. The panels are installed on the south wall of the futuristic mountain shelter, which has 120 beds and a dining hall. They produce 90% of the power the building uses.

11. Solar Panels for the Solar Impulse Airplane
Luiggino Torrigiani, Project Director for Solar Impulse, examines panels intended for the solar airplane's wings. They are tested at an altitude of 3,580 meters, in the photovoltaic laboratory of the Sphinx Observatory on Jungfrau summit in Switzerland. Flown by Swiss pilots Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, Solar Impulse has already made long intercontinental flights powered solely by sunlight.

12. Solar Panels in the Heart of Washington
In a show of support, the U.S. Department of Energy installed solar panels on the rooftop of its building a stone's throw away from the White House and the famous Washington Monument (left in the photo). It had to do so in a way that would not alter the building's architectural style in this landmark district.

13. At the Foot of Denver's Skyscrapers
To mark its transition to renewables, the city of Denver, Colorado, has installed 2,800 square meters of photovoltaic panels on the roof of its downtown convention center. They produce almost 15% of the power used by the center; wind turbines provide 25%. A state-of-the-art waste treatment system has also been put in place.

14. Solar Energy in the Service of Farming
French Alsatian farmers in Weinbourg with an intense interest in renewable energies designed a huge warehouse complex covered with photovoltaic panels with a Japanese manufacturer. It houses an area for drying agricultural waste that will be compressed and used to make heating pellets. Its built-I photovoltaic (BIPV) rooftop system has a surface area of 36,000 square meters and a capacity of 4.5 megawatts (MW), enough power to supply a town of 4,000.

15. Model of an "Agri-Solar" Farm
The town of Ortaffa in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of southern France has built a solar park that incorporates agricultural activities on site. The park was split into 10 enclosed plots totaling 21 hectares, keeping the paths, hedgerows and slopes intact. Forage plants were seeded underneath the panels, allowing sheep to graze. Other lots were set aside for vines and beehives. With 25 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity, it is France's sixth-biggest solar park.