China’s largest private investor group, China Minsheng New Energy Investment Co., is developing a 2 GW solar farm in the Ningxia region which will be made up of some 6 million solar panels.
A report from Bloomberg last week highlighted the massive solar project, which is being developed in phases by China’s biggest private investor group. The Ningxia solar project will eventually cover 4,607 hectares, and be made up of approximately 6 million solar panels. According to Bloomberg, it will be the largest solar farm the world has ever seen, requiring an investment of up to $2.34 billion.
Not only will the Ningxia solar project be the largest in the world, it will be larger or comparable to some countries’ total installed solar capacity.
As Bloomberg notes, the new project “is emblematic of China’s clean-energy ambitions.” As we saw earlier this year, China installed 22 GW of grid-connected solar in the first six months of 2016 alone, including a phenomenal 11.3 GW connected in June alone. This is on top of the 18.6 GW that was said to be installed in 2015. Bloomberg notes that China’s solar installations more than doubled to 50 GW in the two years through 2015, and everyone is predicting that China’s installed solar capacity is only set to soar over the next few years, thanks to a burgeoning economy, increasing population, and decreased solar costs — not to mention clean energy targets and worldwide pressure for countries like China (and India) to make cleaner energy capacity additions.