Maiden, North Carolina will get a new Apple data center powered by a solar renewable energy network engineered by SunPower of San Jose, California. In an effort to increase reliance on green, renewable energy, Apple has chosen to partner with the energy giant.
SunPower comments on the new project:
“Apple is building the nation’s largest end user-owned, onsite solar array on the land surrounding the data center,”
“When completed, this 100-acre, 20-megawatt facility will supply 42 million kilowatt-hours of clean, renewable energy annually.”
In a filing with the North Carolina Utility Commission Apple clarified that SunPower is their number one choice for the project. The energy farm will grow slowly as small energy cells are completed and eventually linked together to form the farm’s power grid. Data centers require an unbelievable amount of energy to stay functioning and currently most centers run on coal and nuclear powered energy sources.
Apples new data center will occupy over 500,000 square feet and will consumer about 10% of its energy from the solar farm and the remainder from local energy provider, Duke Energy. Portions of the farm could be ready to supply power as soon as October. Other technology giants who have data centers in the area include Google and Facebook.