Solar Power Added to Apple Data Center

Apple has added to its portfolio of green energy sources for its complex of data centers and other facilities nationwide.

The latest is a solar array Central Oregon on 200 acres adjacent to its new data center in Prineville. The solar array is eligible for property tax exemptions under a state enterprise zones program, reports The Oregonian.

Those tax savings are worth tens of millions of dollars a year to a large data center, exceeding the considerable power bill these tremendous facilities generate.

A year ago, apple said it planned to use renewable resources, as it does in other data centers.

Its 338,000-square-foot Prineville facility began construction in 2012 and is nearing completion.

Apple’s solar array in Prineville would apparently mirror a 20-MW solar array that opened in 2012 adjacent to Apple’s data center in North Carolina.