As big as a city and with millions of solar panels, the photovoltaic park of Midongin Chinais to date The largest photovoltaic system in the world. It is located in the district of Urumqiin the Chinese region of Xinjiangand has a power of 5 GW. Its overall amplitude is 133 km², that is, greater than that of the city of Naples (117 km²) and can feed about 2 million homes. Let’s see how it was built and how much energy it can produce.
The largest photovoltaic system in the world
Located in the northwestern part of China, precisely in the Midong region, this photovoltaic park was built within a large desert area. The project was carried out by a Chinese state company, the China Green Development Groupand counts about 5.26 million solar panels. It took four years to make the plant completely operational, in fact the works began in 2020 and ended in May 2024. And the amount of energy that this infinity of panels can produce exceeds 6 billion kWh per yearthat is, an energy that can feed about 2 million homes. Just to give you a meter of comparison, the largest photovoltaic system in Italyin PugliaIt has 275 thousand panels, it is 1.5 km² large and can satisfy the consumption of a city of 200 thousand inhabitants.

In addition to being gigantic, the Midong system is also very efficient from the energy point of view, thanks to the characteristics of the panels used, which are in fact both Bifaccerals that monochrithystallines. What does it mean? Bifaciale means that the panel can absorb solar energy on both sides: in poor words, it does not absorb only the light that arrives directly on the panel in the front, but also the one reflected from the ground and which affects the back.
While monochristalline refers to the degree of purity of the silicon, the material of which the panels are made. They distinguish themselves from another type of panels, called polycrystallines or multiclaristallineswhose degree of purity is lower. With the same size, the monochristalline panels can absorb more solar energy and are therefore more efficient from an energy point of view.

The renewable energy plants in China
The company that created the Midong photovoltaic park said the system should Reduce CO2 emissions of about 6 million tons per yearobviously replacing the fossil sources with the renewable energy generated. China is currently the country that produces the greatest amount of CO2 in the world. There is therefore a lot to do to complete the energy transition by 2060 and reach Carbon Neutrality, that is, a balance point between CO2 produced and absorbed, limiting the environmental impact.
It is also true that some of the largest and most efficient photovoltaic parks in the world have been built in recent years, such as that a Jinchuanabout 90 km² and with a power of 1 GW. China’s goal is to achieve a total power of 455 GW With the construction of energy parks that will take advantage of both solar panels and wind turbines: to make you understand how big this number is, in Midong as I said you produce energy for 3 million homes with a total power of 5 GW. 455 GW is almost a hundred times more and it is more or less the equivalent of the current production of renewable energy of Canada, Japan, Germany and France.