China signs deal with U.S. firm for world’s biggest photovoltaic power plant

Remember how we told you recently that China, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, was now pushing ahead on solar, wind and other alternative energy projects?

Chinese government officials signed an agreement on Tuesday with an American solar energy developer called First Solar for a 2,000-megawatt photovoltaic farm to be built in the Mongolian desert, the New York Times is reporting today.

They plan to build the world’s biggest photovoltaic power plant project to date, says the NYT, as part of an 11,950-megawatt renewable-energy park planned for Ordos City in Inner Mongolia. "The project would eventually blanket 25 square miles of Inner Mongolia — slightly larger than the size of Manhattan — with a sea of black, light-absorbing glass," the Associated Press reports.

The plant, when finished, "could provide enough power for 3 million typical Chinese homes -- the equivalent of two large modern coal-fired power plants," says the Los Angeles Times.

In a company press release, First Solar CEO Mike Ahearn said the project "is an encouraging step forward toward the mass-scale deployment of solar power worldwide to help mitigate climate change concerns." Prior to Tuesday's announcement, the largest single photovoltaic power plant in the world was another First Solar project, the 550-megawatt Topaz solar farm in California's Mojave Desert.