Many countries and territories have installed significant solar power capacity into their electrical grids to supplement or provide an alternative to conventional energy sources. Solar power plants use one of two technologies:

Photovoltaic systems account for the great majority of solar capacity installed in the world. CSP represents a minor share of solar power capacity, and is present in significant quantities only in a few countries. Most operational CSP stations are located in Spain and the United States, while large solar farms using photovoltaics are being constructed in most geographic regions.

The worldwide growth of photovoltaics is extremely dynamic and varies strongly by country. In April 2022, the total global solar power capacity reached 1 TW, increasing to 2 TW in 2024. The top installers of 2024 included China, the United States, and India.

The following table lists these data for each country:

Data are sourced from Ember and refer to the year 2024 unless otherwise specified. The table only includes countries with more than 0.1 TWh of generation. Links for each location go to the relevant solar power page, when available.

Many African countries receive on average a very high number of days per year of bright sunlight, especially the dry areas, which include the arid deserts (such as the Sahara) and the semi-desert steppes (such as the Sahel). This gives solar power the potential to bring energy to virtually any location in Africa without the need for expensive large-scale grid-level infrastructural developments. The distribution of solar resources across Africa is fairly uniform, with more than 85% of the continent's landscape receiving at least 2,000 kWh/(m² year). A study indicates that a solar generating facility covering just 0.3% of North Africa could supply all of the energy required by the European Union.

Algeria has the highest technical and economical potential for solar power exploitation in the MENA region, with about 170 TWh per year. First industrial scale solar thermal power project has been initiated by inauguration of Hassi R'Mel power station in 2011. This new hybrid power plant combines a 25-megawatt (MW) concentrating solar power array in conjunction with a 130 MW combined cycle gas turbine plant. In addition, Algeria has launched in 2011 a national program to develop renewable energy based on photovoltaics (PV), concentrated solar power (CSP) and wind power, and to promote energy efficiency. The program consists of installing up to 12 GW of power generating capacity from renewable sources to meet the domestic electricity demand by 2030.

Benban Solar Park is a Photovoltaic power station with a total capacity of 1650 MW nominal power which corresponds to an annual production of approximately 3.8 TWh. It is located in Benban (Aswan Governorate) in the western desert, approximately 650 km south of Cairo and 40 km northwest of Aswan. Benban is currently^[when?] the 4th largest solar power plant in the world.^{[citation needed]}