Apple is building a solar farm to power new data centre

2 Jul 2013

Technology giant Apple is constructing a solar farm to power its newest data centre in Reno, Nevada, which will be able to provide between 18 to 20 megawatts of power.

Apple already uses solar farms to power its data centres in North Carolina, using two 20-megawatt solar farms.

According to GigaOM, the Reno solar farm will use a new type of technology using both solar panels and also mirrors that concentrate the sun’s rays by a factor of seven onto the panels and thus increasing the amount of power generated.

Apple has contracted solar firm SunPower to provide the engineering and construction.

The tech giant is also working with utility firm NV Energy to forge alliances with utilities in various US states to source clean-power options for its data centre.

Apple also intends to use local geothermal power from the Galena 3 facility.

Up to 100 jobs will be created in the construction of the solar farm.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com