“California-based technology giant Apple has spent nearly $3 million to buy more than 200 acres of property in Catawba County for another solar farm,” Sharon McBrayer reports for The Hickory Daily Record. “It’s another step in Apple’s pledge to have its Maiden data center running on 100 percent renewable energy by the end of the year.”
“Apple recently closed on the land purchase that includes a tract of 218.885 acres and another tract of 0.251 acres, according to deeds and a plat book at the Catawba County Register of Deeds,” McBrayer reports. “Apple’s website says, ‘A 100-acre, 20-megawatt installation on the same site as our data center will produce 42 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy annually. A 100-acre site located a few miles away will produce another 42 million kWh.'”
McBrayer reports, “The Conover site is the only other property Apple now owns in the area in addition to the main data center campus and solar farm in Maiden. With the two solar farms and a bio-gas-powered 5-megawatt fuel cell installation, it will be the largest non-utility installation in the country, according to Apple. The company expects to generate 124 million kWh a year, which would power the equivalent of 10,874 homes, Apple says on its website.”
Much more in the full article here.
[Attribution: MacNN. Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Damn Apple, chopping down all those trees! Call Greenpeace!
What a waste of land. For perhaps less cost, and far less land consumption they could have built a natural gas fired power facility and had far more power, smaller foot print, and made money on the excess energy produced.
Correct, particularly a cogeneration plant that used the waste heat to generate district hearing during winter.
You know, sometimes your right nut is pretty smart!
Cheap, but not real cheap. A friend of mine bought 100 acres of farmland next to I95 in North Carolina for $6k an acre. This is in far Western NC, and cost almost $15k an acre.
I hate to say this, but I95 runs down the east coast of North Carolina not in the western part of the state. Now I75 is a different story.
Yeah, but does it produce quality Vodka for….me and my friends here on MDN?