You Can't See the Great Wall of China From Space, But You Can See Their Giant Solar Farm

By Nancy Atkinson - February 28, 2017 at 4:59 PM UTC | Solar Astronomy
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While the Great Wall of China is not readily visible from space

(we debunked that popular myth here)

there are several other human-built structures that actually

can

be seen from space. And that list is growing, thanks to the large solar farms being built around the world.

The solar farm with the current distinction of being the largest in the world -- as of February 2017 – is the Longyangxia Dam Solar Park in China. These new images from NASA's Landsat 8 satellite show the farm's blue solar panels prominently standing out on the brown landscape of the western province of Qinghai, China.

Reportedly

, the solar farm covers 27 square kilometers (10.42 square miles), and consists of nearly 4 million solar panels.

You can see in the image below from 2013 that the farm has been growing over the years. The project has cost the amount of 6 billion yuan ($889.5 million).

[caption id="attachment_133936" align="aligncenter" width="580"]

The orbital view from April 16, 2013

of the Longyangxia Dam Solar Park in China. Credit: NASA/Landsat 8.[/caption]

China wants to shed its title of the biggest polluter in the world and is now investing in clean, renewable energy. It has a goal of producing 110 GW of solar power and 210 GW of wind power by the year 2020. That sounds like a lot, but in a country of 1.4 billion people that relies heavily on coal, it amounts to less than 1 percent of the country's more than 1,500 gigawatts of total power generation capacity, says

Inside Climate News.

According to NASA,

China is now the world's largest producer of solar power, however Germany, Japan, and the United States produce more solar power per person.

China has another solar farm in the works that will have a capacity of 2,000 MW when it is finished.

Here's another wider-angle view from Landsat 8 of the Longyangxia Dam and lake near the solar farm.

[caption id="attachment_133937" align="aligncenter" width="580"]

The Longyangxia Dam Solar Park as seen from orbit on January 5, 2017. Credit: NASA/Landsat 8. [/caption]

Source:

Landsat

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com