page_title: Photovoltaic power station
section_title: The business of developing solar parks
hierarchical_section_title: Photovoltaic power station / The business of developing solar parks
caption_attribution_description: English: Visitors at a Westmill Solar Co-operative Open Day at Westmill Solar Park
context_page_description: A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park or solar farm, is a large-scale photovoltaic system designed for the supply of merchant power into the electricity grid. They are differentiated from most building-mounted and other decentralised solar power applications because they supply power at the utility level, rather than to a local user or users. The generic expression utility-scale solar is sometimes used to describe this type of project.
  The solar power source is via photovoltaic modules that convert light directly to electricity. However, this differs from, and should not be confused with concentrated solar power, the other large-scale solar generation technology, which uses heat to drive a variety of conventional generator systems. Both approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but to date, for a variety of reasons, photovoltaic technology has seen much wider use in the field. As of 2019, concentrator systems represented about 3% of utility-scale solar power capacity.
  In some countries, the nameplate capacity of a photovoltaic power stations is rated in megawatt-peak, which refers to the solar array's theoretical maximum DC power output.
context_section_description: Solar power plants are developed to deliver merchant electricity into the grid as an alternative to other renewable, fossil or nuclear generating stations.
  The plant owner is an electricity generator. Most solar power plants today are owned by independent power producers (IPP's), though some are held by investor- or community-owned utilities.
  Some of these power producers develop their own portfolio of power plants,  but most solar parks are initially designed and constructed by specialist project developers. Typically the developer will plan the project, obtain planning and connection consents, and arrange financing for the capital required.  The actual construction work is normally contracted to one or more EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contractors.
  Major milestones in the development of a new photovoltaic power plant are planning consent,  grid connection approval,  financial close, construction, connection and commissioning.  At each stage in the process, the developer will be able to update estimates of the anticipated performance and costs of the plant and the financial returns it should be able to deliver.
caption: Westmill Solar Park[87] is the world's largest community-owned solar power station[88]
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