14 DAY TRIAL // Apple is building a new solar panel farm in Reno, Nevada. Called the “Ft. Churchill Solar Array,” the panels will provide clean, renewable energy to power the company’s latest data center.
The panels used for the Reno solar farm are a bit different than traditional photovoltaic solutions.
In addition to solar panels, the array employs mirrors that concentrate the sun’s light up to seven times onto the receiving cells, which increases the amount of generated power.
Apple issued a statement on this effort, noting that its latest data centers now use 100% renewable energy, “and we are on track to meet that goal in our new Reno data center using the latest in high-efficiency concentrating solar panels,” the company said.
In addition to supplying renewable energy for its own data center, the array will also provide clean energy to the local power grid, thanks to a partnership with NV Energy.
“When completed, the 137 acre solar array will generate approximately 43.5 million kilowatt hours of clean energy, equivalent to taking 6,400 passenger vehicles off the road per year,” Apple says.
NV Energy is just as pleased with the effort, with CEO Michael Yackira saying, “We’re excited to be in partnership with Apple on a new solar energy project, the first project under our new Green Energy Program.”
“This program allows customers such as Apple to choose to have a greater proportion of their energy coming from renewables than the law requires, without having a cost impact on our other customers,” said Yackira.
Apple has achieved 100% renewable energy at all of its data centers, including facilities in Austin, Elk Grove, Cork, and Munich. The same goes for the 1 Infinite Loop campus in Cupertino.
As far as all of Apple’s corporate facilities are concerned, the company is at 75 percent, but it expects that number to grow as it gains access to more renewable energy.
“We won’t stop working until we achieve 100 percent throughout Apple,” the company says on its web site.