Apple unveils solar power data centre

Power hungry data centres tend not to be the most sustainable of buildings, but Apple is trying to address that problem. The company has revealed that its huge data centre in North Carolina is now powered entirely by two nearby solar farms.

According to a report by tech site GigaOm, Apple has been spending considerable amounts of money in recent years building the two solar farms. While most firms seek third party specialists to provide power, Apple has preferred to develop the solar farms themselves.

The two farms are the largest privately owned energy facilities in the US and reportedly cost almost $200m to build. The farms reportedly provide 50MW of energy, more than enough for the data centres 40MW requirements. Apple’s move into developing its own clean and sustainable power source is an encouraging sign for the solar industry, and shows that large-scale private power consumers can act as a catalyst for the industry.

Apple is placing greater emphasis on its data centres, which provide the backbone of their iCloud web services. Rival firms like Google and Facebook also have vast data centres, and according to a report by the US Environmental Protection Agency, such facilities account for around two percent of all energy consumption in the US.

Google has been working with energy provider Duke Energy, hoping to develop its own renewable source of energy for its centres, while Facebook recently announced that it will build a data centre Iowa power entirely by wind energy.