Data center

Update 05/09/2017: Reno city official’s were able to confirm to 9to5Mac, the parcel of land up for Apple’s purchase. Image in post has been updated.

Reno City Council is set to discuss Apple potentially purchasing a half-city block of land for a new facility, according to KRNV. If accepted, this would follow Apple’s decisions in building out a $50 million data center in Reno.

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Apple’s commitment to environmental sustainability is well established, but the company is going one step further in its new Danish data center. In addition to powering the center entirely from renewable energy, the company is capturing the waste heat generated and feeding it into a district heating system, to warm local homes …

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Apple appears to be planning to further expand its data center presence in Northern Nevada according to a newly surfaced building permit. An application that was filed and withdrawn on February 2 points to a $50 million data center codenamed Project Isabel with Apple listed as the client.

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Aarhus University Research Center, Foulum

Apple announced plans for two new European data centers back in 2015, one in Ireland, the second in Denmark. The Irish one hasn’t had the smoothest of rides when it comes to planning permission, so it’ll be hoping for better luck with the Danish project, now confirmed to be situated in Foulum, a small village in Central Jutland.

The Danish foreign minister Kristian Jensen told CPH Post that the DKK6.3B ($950M) project would represent the largest foreign capital investment in the country’s history. Tim Cook said back in 2015 that the Irish and Danish projects combined would also be Apple’s biggest investment in Europe to date.

Apple had already confirmed that the new center would run on 100% renewable energy, but Jensen says that the company’s commitment to renewables in the area goes further than this …

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A solar array at one of Apple’s existing data centers in North Carolina

Update: Business Insider reports that the decision has been further delayed. The planning body An Bord Pleanála has said that it won’t be able to reach a decision now until 11th August as it needs more time to consider the impact of the infrastructure needed to support the data center.

Apple has responded to environmental objections to its planned $950M data center, arguing that the proposed development is necessary, would meet projected demand for the next 10-15 years, and would pose no risk to the local environment.

Although Apple was initially given the go-ahead for the center, construction had to be delayed when appeals against the decision were filed. The planning body, An Bord Pleanála, asked Apple to respond to five concerns, and Business Insider has now seen a transcript of the company’s oral response …

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Update: Galway Independent (via Business Insider) reports that a hearing date has now been set, for Tuesday 24th May. The venue has not yet been confirmed.

Apple’s plan to build one of the world’s largest data centers in Ireland hit a stumbling block earlier this month when local residents filed objections. The planning body, An Bord Pleanála, said that it would be pushing back its decision from February to May in order to consider those objections.

Business Insider reports that An Bord Pleanála has now written to Apple’s consulting engineers, asking them to address five concerns …

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Last year it was announced that Apple was planning a major new data center for County Galway in Ireland, as well as one in Denmark, both set to begin operations in 2017. According to a new report from Business Insider, however, Apple’s plans for the Irish data center have hit a speed bump. The report claims that the company’s $928 million dollar center has been put on hold due to complaints from the community.

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Apple is set to further build upon its data center in Reno, Nevada according to a report out of the Reno Gazette-Journal. Apple has been building upon its Reno data center for a while now, but the company has recently filed a permit with the county requesting permission to construct a new data center adjacent to the existing one.

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Apple has announced that it will be spending €1.7B ($1.92B) on two new European data centers, each of which will be among the largest in the world at 166,000 square metres (1.8M square feet)–three times larger than the company’s North Carolina facility.

One will be in Ireland, the other in Denmark, with each set to begin operations in 2017. Apple says that the facilities will provide online services across Europe, including the iTunes Store, App Store, iMessage, Apple Maps and Siri.

We are grateful for Apple’s continued success in Europe and proud that our investment supports communities across the continent,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “This significant new investment represents Apple’s biggest project in Europe to date.”

As with all of Apple’s data centers around the world, the new centres will be powered entirely by clean, renewable energy … 
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Following the October surprise bankruptcy filed by GT Advanced Technologies—a key sapphire supplier for the iPhone—Apple today announced plans to invest $2 billion over the next 30 years in the failed plant. The Mesa, Arizona-located plant will become the central command center for its various data centers around the globe.

“We’re proud to continue investing in the U.S. with a new data center in Arizona, which will serve as a command center for our global networks,” Kristin Huguet, a spokeswoman for Cupertino, California-based Apple, wrote in an e-mailed statement on Monday. “This multibillion-dollar project is one of the largest investments we’ve ever made.”

Shortly after the bankruptcy announcement from GT Advanced Technologies, Apple described the decision as surprising while adding that the company would focus on job preservation.
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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHsXH6CO8Tg]

After showing more journalists around its solar-powered North Carolina data center (where it is building a third solar farm), Apple says that its new focus for renewable energy is its supply chain. The Guardian reports that the sapphire factory in Arizona forms part of this initiative.

The company is also moving to install solar and geothermal power at a plant in Mesa, Arizona that has been manufacturing sapphire glass. Apple would not directly comment on the Arizona factory but the state’s governor, Jan Brewer, has publicly praised the company’s decision to relocate there and to use solar and geothermal in manufacturing.

Apple’s VP of environmental initiatives Lisa Jackson said that the company is conscious that its supply chain cannot claim the same green credentials as Apple itself … 
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The city of Claremont, NC has agreed to annex the land necessary for Apple to build a third solar farm near its data center in Maiden, the Hickory Daily Record reported (via MacRumors). Apple will make an initial investment of $55 million and indirectly create 75 jobs while constructing the 17.5-megawatt farm, which will be located at 3123 Kelly Blvd.

The farm won’t actually be located at the Maiden data center—or even in the city of Maiden, for that matter—though it will still be located in the same county as the other property.

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OregonLive notes that government filings from last week show Apple has taken over a hydroelectric project near its Oregon data center. Apple has previously reported that it powers its data centers entirely on renewable energy. The hydroelectric plant in Oregon will help maintain its 100% renewable energy rating. In fact, on Apple’s environmental website, the company notes that the Prineville site will source power from hydroelectric energy in addition to wind and solar.

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Google data centre at Eemshaven (photo: computable.nl)

iPhoneclub (translation) says that Apple’s rumored plan to build a new data center in Netherlands are now focusing on the town of Eemshaven.

Eemshaven is an ideal location due to the high-speed transatlantic fiber optic cable link to the USA. Google already has a 10,000 square meter data center in the town, and it is believed that Apple has already been granted outline planning permission for its own center … 
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According to a new report from GigaOM, Apple is planning to build a new solar panel farm in Reno, Nevada in conjunction with NV Energy. Reno is also where Apple’s latest data center is located. The company already has two similar-sized solar farms in North Carolina to power its data center there, but this is the company’s first in Nevada.

The solar farm, dubbed  “Ft. Churchill Solar Array,” will be able to proved between 18 to 20 MW in power, which is about the same as its plants in North Carolina, which both put out 20 MW in size. With this solar farm, however, Apple will be utilizing a new technology that includes both solar panels and mirrors that focus the sun’s rays up to seven times onto the panels. 
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