“When Apple announced to the world last month that it would be spending an eye-popping almost $850 million to buy solar power from a solar farm to be built in central California, clean energy fans naturally cheered. But there was another common reaction by industry watchers, too: confusion,” Katie Fehrenbacher reports for Fortune.
“But on the surface of Apple’s solar deal, the few financials they released just didn’t look all that competitive compared to the latest low cost solar panel farm deals that are being done,” Fehrenbacher reports. “But the key factor that has been overlooked in these calculations is that, while Apple and PG&E are splitting the solar power from the farm almost down the middle, PG&E’s deal is actually only for 15 years. Apple’s is for 25.”
“After 15 years, Apple plans to buy up the solar power from the entire 280-megawatt site,” Fehrenbacher reports. “So any financial calculations need to incorporate the fact that, in the last 10 years of the deal, Apple will be getting double the electricity.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: So, yes, Apple is as shrewd as ever.
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