[hannob]

What I find noteworthy and maybe isn't appreciated enough is how many of these large solar installations are in countries like India or China.

You may implicitly think that these would be in the richest countries, but apparently they are not. (Granted China and India have good conditions for Solar, but so do parts of the US and Australia.)

[axiolite]

As of 2020, India has about half as much solar generation capacity installed as the US.

The question is why fewer, very large facilities are preferrable in India. Economics (land or labor)? Population density/distribution? Or is it political reasons?

[ctdonath]

Good question. I do suspect it related to the value of land in proximity to major market, and command economy vs capitalism. Obtaining thousands of contiguous acres averaging 240 Wh per m^2 per day, close enough to demand to efficiently deliver it, may face tough competition with other real estate users. Couple that with actually having to compete, vs favorable eminent domain laws, and compelling interest in pollution reduction, and China & India very well may see larger installations.

Ballpark numbers with my own utility solar point to revenue of ~$50/000 per year per acre (paying 15¢/kWh, 50% above normal power rate). Equipment costs may be about $1,000,000 per acre ($250 per 1m^2 panels etc, 4000 square meter panels per acre). That’s 20 years just to break even on equipment. Now work in land cost (and making it viable) vs market rate per acre.