Solar Farms in 5 Images

- China, India, the United States and the Arab States of the Persian Gulf are vying to outdo one another with the sheer extent of their solar farms, owing to the vast expanses of unused land they have available. Some of these mega-farms are the size of 2,000 - 3,000 soccer fields. Europe also stands its ground in the sector: this image shows the largest solar farm in Germany, inaugurated in November 2021 in Werneuchen/Löhme, near Berlin. The largest European farm is “Nuñes de Balboa” near Badajoz in Spain, which far outstrips the farm in Cestas, near Bordeaux in France.

- In their relentless hunt for space, solar energy promoters are developing floating farms or panels mounted on pylons above water bodies (lakes or industrial basins). This is the Wenzhou farm in East China, inaugurated in December 2021. It is combined with fish-farming facilities installed beneath the panels.

- to avoid encroaching on farmland, solar farms can be installed on industrial or unused wasteland. This is the Marville farm, in the Moselle department in France. It stretches over 155 hectares of a former military airbase. You can still see the take-off and landing strips. A herd of 600 sheep keeps the grassy areas neat and tidy…

- Some farmers came up with the idea of planting their crops beneath PV panels, affording protection for their plantations from the

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of the sun and bad weather. Vineyards, orchards and vegetable plots are good candidates for this technique. This image shows vanilla cultivation which is gaining ground in Saint Louis, on the French island of La Réunion, in the Indian Ocean.

- another kind of farm uses the heat from the sun’s rays rather than directly converting sunlight into electricity. Instead of photovoltaic panels, a series of mirrors are angled to face a central tower in which a liquid is heated. Such farms often have a characteristic circular arrangement, like the plant shown here in Antofagasta, Chile, with its 400,000 mirrors.