Apple's Data Centers to Be Powered by 100% Renewable Energy

Earlier today, we noted that Apple had received official approval for its 20-megawatt solar farm across the street from its data center in Maiden, North Carolina. But even more significant developments are also occurring today, with Apple posting a new page to the environmental section of its website touting that all of the company's data centers will be powered by 100% renewable energy.

maiden data center power
At the North Carolina site, the previously-annnounced 20-megawatt solar farm is being joined by a second farm of equal size a few miles away. Combined with the 5-megawatt fuel cell facility also being built at the data center, 60% of the data center's power needs will be generated on site. The remaining 40% will be purchased through agreements with outside renewable power producers.

We’re currently building two solar array installations in and around Maiden. These sites use high-efficiency solar cells and an advanced solar tracking system. 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. Together that’s 84 million kWh of clean, renewable energy supplied annually. When our bio-gas-powered 5-megawatt fuel cell installation comes online later this year, it will provide more than 40 million kWh of renewable energy annually. This means Apple will be producing enough onsite renewable energy — 124 million kWh — to power the equivalent of 10,874 homes.

Apple's efforts in renewable energy will also extend to its other data center facilities, as the company previously disclosed that its upcoming Prineville, Oregon data center will be powered by 100% renewable energy. And the new page posted today reveals that the company's original, smaller data center in Newark, California will soon be powered by renewable energy as Apple works to locate and purchase clean energy for the facility, with the capacity scheduled to be in place by February 2013.

Greenpeace last month bashed Apple using estimates it claimed showed that only 10% of the North Carolina data center's power would be from renewable sources. Apple rebutted those claims, noting that at least 60% of the center's energy would be from renewable sources. With today's announcements, Apple has expanded its efforts even further to power all of its data centers with 100% renewable energy.

Popular Stories

apple tv 4k new orange

New Apple TV Expected Later This Year With These New Features

Saturday July 12, 2025 3:09 pm PDT by
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors. Rumors Faster Wi-Fi Support The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports ...
iphone 16 pro ghost hand

5 Reasons to Skip This Year's iPhone 17 Pro

Thursday July 10, 2025 4:54 am PDT by
Apple will launch its new iPhone 17 series in two months, and the iPhone 17 Pro models are expected to get a new design for the rear casing and the camera area. But more significant changes to the lineup are not expected until next year, when the iPhone 18 models arrive. If you're thinking of trading in your iPhone for this year's latest, consider the following features rumored to be coming...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 16 New Features

Friday July 11, 2025 12:40 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are only two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:A redesigned Dynamic Island: It has been rumored that all iPhone 17 models will have a redesigned Dynamic Island interface — it might ...
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Complications

Apple Watch Ultra 3: What to Expect

Sunday July 13, 2025 10:30 am PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 is nearly over, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the Apple Watch Ultra 3:Satellite connectivity for sending and receiving text messages when Wi-Fi and cellular coverage is unavailable 5G support, up from LTE on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Likely a wide-angle OLED display that ...
iphone 16 pro pro max

iPhone 17 Pro Models With BOE Displays Will Be Sold in China Only

Thursday July 10, 2025 11:59 pm PDT by
iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models with displays made by BOE will be sold exclusively in China, according to a new report. Last week, it emerged that Chinese display manufacturer BOE was aggressively ramping up its OLED production capacity for future iPhone models as part of a plan to recapture a major role in Apple's supply chain. Now, tech news aggregator Jukan Choi reports...
top stories 2025 07 12

Top Stories: iPhone 17 Pro Rumors, iOS 26 Beta 3, and More

Saturday July 12, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
The iOS 26 public beta release is quickly approaching, while developers have recently gotten their hands on a third round of betas that has seen Apple continue to tweak features, design, and functionality. We're also continuing to hear rumors about the iPhone 17 lineup that is now just about right around the corner, while Apple's latest big-budget film appears to be taking off, so read on...

Top Rated Comments

Drunken Master Avatar
172 months ago
Only companies with more money than common sense can do this type of thing. It will never have a pay off and will likely consume more energy in it's fabrication and manufacture than it ever produces.
Never have a pay off?

Bull.

Quit thinking in the short term. The pay off is the influence it will have on other big companies. The payoff is the mother****ing environment, the goddman earth. Jesus H. Christ, people. The fabrication will eventually be powered with renewable energy. Eventually it will ALL be renewable energy but we have to take the first steps somewhere.

That's part of the problem with our species. "We created jobs with oil fields! Now they want to take them away and take away jobs from Americans!" This kind of short term thinking, about who gets paid when and where with no concern for the environment and pollution is part of the reason almost all our modern conveniences will come back to kill us in the end. Keep poisoning the air, soil and sea just so that you can get another paycheck, but one day we'll be in a full-on crisis mode and nobody will want to admit they contributed to this mess.
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bernuli Avatar
172 months ago
We're sorry, your iCloud is currently unavailable. ... Because its cloudy.
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
atomicbloke Avatar
172 months ago
Apple should plant some apple trees.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
shinobi-81 Avatar
172 months ago
This is outstanding, and I do sincerely hope that more corporations will follow.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HarryKeogh Avatar
172 months ago
This is a lot of trouble to go through just to make sure my reminder to buy cat food is synced across my devices.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kevinpdoyle Avatar
172 months ago
Why would you suspect I'm joking? This wanton spending does nothing for Apple's consumers, and it does nothing for Apple shareholders. It's really just a sign that management is concerned with spending their time and corporate money on their own self-absorbed bourgeois fantasies, instead of, you know, making insanely great products.

They could have added a bottle opener to my iPhone and it would have been a more useful feature upgrade than this.

I sold my shares. Now I understand why Forstall and Mansfield did to. Apple needs to fire their board of directors and replace it with people who have a clue, since obviously Steve Jobs isn't there to babysit them anymore.

How much does this save them in terms of PR costs? Not to mention the panels will in time pay for themselves and add value to the land. I fail to see how this is anything other than a calculated business move and a good investment when interest/bond rates are at an all time low.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)