Two months ago Apple announced 96% of its worldwide energy now comes from renewable sources and also pledged to reach 100% by getting its supply chain to invest in renewable energy. Today Apple has announced it is issuing a $1 billion green bond to further its renewable initiatives…
Apple has long been a supporter of renewable energy, pushing towards using alternative energy to power its worldwide operations. Now, an energy trade associate that includes Apple has expressed its support for a proposal from the U.S. energy regulator that would make it easer to participate in wholesale markets for energy storage and distributed energy resources…
In our latest installment of Apple Campus 2 flyovers, we see that Apple is nearing completion for its 2017 opening. The main structures are almost complete from the outside and trees and fountains and other landscaping are going in. Drone video and high definition stills are below…
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Following the discovery in June that Apple set up an energy subsidiary, ‘Apple Energy’ LLC, with plans to sell off its excess renewable energy, SiliconBeat reports that the company today received approval to begin doing so.
While solar panels and wind turbines are the two best-known methods of generating renewable energy, they aren’t the only approaches. The day after we learned that Apple has become a power company, we hear that it has just been given the go-ahead to employ a particularly cool method.
Landfill gas utilization traps the methane gas given off from landfill sites and either converts it into pipeline-grade gas or uses it to generate electricity. It’s doubly environmentally friendly, generating power from waste but also preventing the release of methane – a greenhouse gas – into the atmosphere …
Update: John Weaver did a deeper dive on this over at Electrek
Apple has quietly created an energy subsidiary, ‘Apple Energy’ LLC, registered in Delaware but run from its Cupertino headquarters. The company was seemingly formed to allow it to sell excess electricity generated by its solar farms in Cupertino and Nevada, with plans to sell electricity across the whole of the US.
[Apple Energy LLC] is a Delaware limited liability company and is a 100% wholly owned subsidiary of Apple Inc. [Contact is] Apple Energy LLC, One Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA 95014
Given Apple’s expertise and huge commitment to using renewable energy to power its operations, it is no surprise that it wants to ensure that its solar farms generate sufficient power to meet its needs. Because the sun only shines during the day obviously, Apple needs to shift its generation and its usage. Data centers need to go 24/7. Apple Stores are open in the evening. Apple has alternatives for this at its campus (see Fuel Cell generation below) but if it wants to operate 100% renewable, it has to “trade” overcapacity during the middle of the day for “net-metered” energy during the evening or cloudy days.
Apple’s Cupertino Campus 2 Photovoltaics are rated at 14 megawatts alone.
But a set of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission filings suggests that Apple could have bigger ambitions in the power field …
