Not too long ago, renewable-energy projects sized in kilowatts were considered large. The biggest solar array in 1963 had a mere 242 W of capacity, and was on a lighthouse in Japan. Wind power, which took off more quickly, reached its first 100 kW system in 1931, in Yalta, then part of the Soviet Union. And at that time, wave and tidal power plants were still twinkles in researchers' eyes. But renewable-energy projects have grown inexorably larger, from kilowatt-size systems to megawatt-size systems and now to gigawatt-size systems. 'It's just the natural progression of what's happened to renewable energy', said Ron Pernick, a principal at research firm Clean Energy, which picked 'mega-projects' as one of its top five trends for 2010.
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