The Topaz Solar Farm is one of the largest solar farms in the United States. Located in central California, the 550-megawatt power station consists of 9 million solar panels across 9.5 square miles (24.6 square kilometers). Construction began in 2012 and was completed in late 2014, and the site can now produce enough electricity to power 160,000 homes.

These images, acquired by Landsat 7 and Landsat 8, show the area of the solar farm development. The 2011 image was acquired before construction started and shows that the previous land use was agriculture. The 2015 image shows the completed project. In the second image, the agricultural land use (green blocks) has been replaced by the solar installation (dark blocks). This second image also shows less overall greenness, due to seasonal change.

Landsat images such as these can help document changes to the landscape, as alternative power sources are being developed to provide renewable energy for the Earth’s growing population.