China to build the world's biggest solar power plant

Inner Mongolia is a backwater region of China, but it's about to become a world-class location for solar power. On September 8, leading solar panel maker and solar power plant integrator First Solar (FSLR) signed a multi-billion dollar agreement with the Chinese government to build a two gigawatt solar plant on the windy steppes of Inner Mongolia, far from the bright lights of Beijing and Shanghai, according to the Cleantech Group.

To put this in perspective, three years ago China was also building the largest solar power plant in the world, according to Red Herring. But it was only 100 megawatts -- one-twentieth the size of this one. The First Solar plant, to be completed by 2019, will dwarf all other solar plants, both existing and planned. The agreement comes after vocal criticisms by U.S. and European green energy companies that they were being intentionally shut out of bidding processes for large projects by the Chinese government.