Apple and Nevada energy company NV Energy today announced a new agreement that will see the two partnering to build 200 megawatts of additional solar energy in Nevada by 2019, which will support Apple's data center in Reno, Nevada.

NV Energy will soon enter into a power purchase agreement for the solar power plant, and in the future, Apple will dedicate up to five megawatts of power to NV's upcoming subscription solar program.

renodatacenter

Image of Apple's Reno data center via the Reno Gazette-Journal

"Investing in innovative clean energy sources is vital to Apple's commitment to reaching, and maintaining, 100 percent renewable energy across all our operations," said Apple's vice president for environment, policy and social initiatives Lisa Jackson. "Our partnership with NV Energy helps assure our customers their iMessages, FaceTime video chats and Siri inquiries are powered by clean energy, and supports efforts to offer the choice of green energy to Nevada residents and businesses."

Apple has expanded its Reno data center multiple times over the course of the last few years, and is working on a second data center at the same location. Apple's data centers, including the Reno center, are powered by renewable energy, much of which is derived from solar panel farms located nearby the centers.

Apple started building a Reno solar farm back in 2013, and will now expand on it.

Top Rated Comments

Juicy Box Avatar
89 months ago
Apple and Nevada energy company NV Energy today announced ('http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nv-energy-announces-solar-agreement-with-apple-300396620.html') a new agreement that will see the two partnering to build 200 megawatts of additional solar energy
5 more of these will almost be enough for time travel.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mw360 Avatar
89 months ago
Powered by 100% solar energy...except for in the night when its powered by nuclear or coal most likely. At least with companies like Tesla they can charge batteries in the day time but with Apple their data centres don't shut down when the sun goes down
The solar farms produce enough excess during the day to offset the non-solar usage at night. That means somewhere less coal or uranium is getting burned to the same degree or better than if the solar plant could run during the night. Since all the energy gets mixed into the grid anyway, it doesn't make any sense to talk about where the energy actually goes and comes from. So long as it's made cleanly, the right customer pays for it, and some dirty energy is scaled back to compensate.

I can't speak for the US energy grid but other countries are developing batteries in the 200MW range to address the future issue of supply peaks failing to meet demand peaks.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Porco Avatar
89 months ago
5 more of these will almost be enough for time travel.
Well, they've been promoting their Time Machine for years after all... :D

Anyway, this is very good news. Especially when others are taking the concept of a huge pipeline rather more literally than Apple do...
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
justperry Avatar
89 months ago
5 more of these will almost be enough for time travel.
Now this one will blow your mind then:

Last year, China installed 15.13GW of new solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity, reaching a cumulative solar capacity of 43.48GW.
China's sets a 2020 solar PV target at 150GW to 200GW.
http://www.computerworld.com/article/3147845/sustainable-it/china-leads-the-world-in-solar-power-installations.html ('http://www.computerworld.com/article/3147845/sustainable-it/china-leads-the-world-in-solar-power-installations.html')
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
newdeal Avatar
89 months ago
Powered by 100% solar energy...except for in the night when its powered by nuclear or coal most likely. At least with companies like Tesla they can charge batteries in the day time but with Apple their data centres don't shut down when the sun goes down
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Reason077 Avatar
89 months ago
That is pure garbage. The amount of power that needs to be generated at night remains constant
Grid demand at night is much lower than during the daytime. Peak solar hours correspond fairly well (but not perfectly) with peak demand hours in most regions.

Power usage at night si actually frustrating for everybody involved in energy generation because often the light loads end up being handled in very inefficient ways.
That's true. Solar, along with storage technologies, helps with this by flattening out the peaks and troughs in demand across the day. That means less need to start and stop gas peaker plants and less need to keep plants idling as spinning reserve, which can be expensive and wasteful.

Second; the amount of solar energy generated in this country is a tiny fraction of what is needed to power the country. That tiny contribution to the electrical grid comes with a massive waste of land space, often in areas with sensitive ecosystems.
Nonsense. The daily energy demand for the entire USA could be supplied by about 11 million acres of solar panels. That's equivalent to a small corner of Nevada, which has plenty of sunny empty desert available!

In fact, a small section of the Sahara desert could power the entire planet's energy demand.

Obviously we don't yet have the ability to store and transmit it efficiently/cheaply enough for 100% solar to be a reality, but the point is that the amount of potential energy available via solar is enormous.

Sure it does because stupid things like people thinking nuclear energy is dangerous can be addressed.
Nuclear energy is certainly less dangerous than highly polluting alternatives like coal, but it is very expensive. Nobody would be bothering much with solar, gas, or coal if nuclear was cheap and easy. Unfortunately it's not.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

apple card 1

Apple Ending Apple Card Partnership With Goldman Sachs

Tuesday November 28, 2023 3:09 pm PST by
Apple is ending its credit card partnership with Goldman Sachs, according to The Wall Street Journal. Apple plans to stop working with Goldman Sachs in the next 12 to 15 months, and it is not yet clear if Apple has established a new partnership for the Apple Card. Apple and Goldman Sachs will dissolve their entire consumer partnership, including the Apple Card and the Apple Savings account....
ios 17 namedrop

Police Departments and News Sites Spreading Misinformation About How iOS 17 NameDrop Feature Works

Monday November 27, 2023 5:11 pm PST by
Apple with iOS 17.1 and watchOS 10.1 introduced a new NameDrop feature that is designed to allow users to place Apple devices near one another to quickly exchange contact information. Sharing contact information is done with explicit user permission, but some news organizations and police departments have been spreading misinformation about how functions. As noted by The Washington Post,...
Apple Logo

Apple Discontinued These 5 Products This Year

Monday November 27, 2023 7:03 am PST by
As the end of 2023 nears, now is a good opportunity to look back at some of the devices and accessories that Apple discontinued throughout the year. Apple products discontinued in 2023 include the iPhone 13 mini, 13-inch MacBook Pro, MagSafe Battery Pack, MagSafe Duo Charger, and leather accessories. Also check out our lists of Apple products discontinued in 2022 and 2021. iPhone Mini ...
iOS 17

iOS 17.1.2 Update for iPhone Likely to Be Released This Week

Monday November 27, 2023 8:24 am PST by
Apple will likely release iOS 17.1.2 this week, based on mounting evidence of the software in our website's analytics logs in recent days. As a minor update, iOS 17.1.2 should be focused on bug fixes, but it's unclear exactly which issues might be addressed. Some users have continued to experience Wi-Fi issues on iOS 17.1.1, so perhaps iOS 17.1.2 will include the same fix for Wi-Fi...
iOS 17

Everything New in iOS 17.2 Beta 4

Tuesday November 28, 2023 12:18 pm PST by
Apple is wrapping up development on iOS 17.2, with the update expected to come out in December. While we're getting to the end of the beta testing period, Apple is still tweaking features and adding new functionality. We've rounded up everything new in the fourth beta of iOS 17.2. Default Notification Sound Under Sounds & Haptics, there's a new "Default Alerts" section that allows you to ...
All New CarPlay Five New Features Article 2

What to Expect From All-New CarPlay, Still Listed as Coming 'Late 2023'

Tuesday November 28, 2023 7:44 am PST by
At WWDC in June 2022, Apple previewed the next generation of CarPlay, promising deeper integration with vehicle functions like A/C and FM radio, support for multiple displays across the dashboard, increased personalization, and more. Apple's website still says the first vehicles with support for the next-generation CarPlay experience will be announced in "late 2023," but it has not shared...
Google Drive

Some Google Drive Users' Files Have Mysteriously Vanished

Tuesday November 28, 2023 3:55 am PST by
Google Drive users have been warned not to disconnect their account within the Google Drive for desktop app, after a spate of reports of files going missing from the cloud service. Alarm bells began ringing last week on Google's community support site when some users reported files mysteriously disappearing from Google Drive, with some posters claiming six or more months of data had...