Brazil. Omega Energia, a Brazilian company, plans to build a 4.6 GW Kuara solar power plant consisting of 8 million photovoltaic panels. The project will be implemented on a 7.8 ha vacant farm in the municipalities of Aracati and Icapuy, in the northeastern Brazilian state of Ceará, according to the Global Energy Association.
If approved by the Environmental Council of the state of Ceará and subsequently successfully implemented, the project plant will surpass in capacity the two largest solar parks in the world, which are already under construction in China.
It is a 3.3 GW power plant to be located in southwestern Sichuan province and a 3 GW complex in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in north-central China. The Omega Energia project will supply a green hydrogen production site to be built by Australian companies Energix Energy and Fortescue Future Industries in Port Pecem, 200 km from the site of the future solar park.
Among the plants planned but not yet under construction is the largest project to date: a 17-20 GW solar park that Sun Cable plans to build in northern Australia.
The photovoltaic panels integrated with a 36-42 GWh energy storage system will be located on a 12,000 ha site. The solar park will connect with an 800km power transmission line to bring electricity to the converter located near the coastal city of Darwin, and from there to Singapore via six submarine cable systems that provide 15% of the country's electricity needs.
Solar energy is the fastest growing renewable energy industry. The global capacity of power plants using renewable energy sources increased by 257 GW in 2021, of which 133 GW came from solar panels, 93 GW from wind generators and 31 GW from other types of power plants, as indicated in IRENA data.
