It’s a big year for friendly competition among nations, as athletes from 206 countries prepare for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Although harnessing energy from the sun will not be a featured event, building solar industries is a rivalry that’s gripping the attention of the world’s diverse economies with all the intensity of a game of beach volleyball or soccer.

A decade ago, this race was led by the most developed nations. Expansive outdoor space, an abundance of single-family residents and smaller buildings, and money to invest in sustainable energy, were still prerequisites back then. Today, emerging nations are coming forward to show who can outdo who in the global effort to go solar. The results are surprising.

The World is Embracing Solar—and Keeping Score

In the United States today, many states and municipalities are competing for high status in solar energy production. Around the world, different countries are also clamoring for the same crown, and with a diverse palette of approaches.

Like other industrialized nations, the United States has maintained its high record of performance by embracing large-scale and small-scale solar projects. However, China and Italy have recently ramped up their efforts, knocking the U.S.A. from number four, down to number five in this survey of the world’s top 10 solar producers in 2014, versus in 2009.

A Monster Emerges in the Chilean Desert

No South American country ranks in the top 10 of solar producers — yet. However, as Chile prepares to open its mammoth solar project, Atacama 1, this is likely to change. Set in the Atacama Desert between the Andes and the Pacific, this amphitheater-like compound features a massive ring of mirror panels facing a narrow tower. This tower in itself will be the world’s biggest solar energy producing structure.

Atacama 1 won’t stop at solar. Salt from the surrounding Atacama desert will help propel the plant’s turbines, making the giant even more multi-faceted than it appears.

What’s more, the project is attracting worldwide investment into Chile’s economy. Atacama 1 will power giant industries, including Google’s new data center near Santiago. In a continent hungry for alternative energy, the Atacama 1 solar plant is poised to become a standard bearer, not only for South America but for the world.

Algeria Looks to a Brighter Future Than Ever

It’s also been a big year for solar in North Africa, where Algeria has opened several photovoltaic power plants as part of its ambitious goal to replace its key oil and gas exports to neighboring countries with solar.

Algeria’s plants are smaller and more numerous than Chile’s Atacama 1, but the “build-it-and-they-will-come” economic strategy is similar. These projects have created an impressive array of new jobs, and will allow the country to significantly reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.

Large-Scale Solar: It’s a Tight Race for a Dense World

The emergence of large-scale solar is one reason today’s solar forerunners are getting a run for their money from the likes of Chile and Algeria. Domestically speaking, rooftop solar panel installation shows no sign of slowing. But massive engineering marvels like Atacama 1 bridge the gap for dense cities where individual panels aren’t as viable an option.

Every competition has its upsets. But the race to realign energy production toward solar is one in which a local economy can surge ahead unexpectedly and the global economy can still win.

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