Apple to build another data centre entirely powered by renewables

Multinational tech company Apple recently announced plans to spend $921 million on a second renewables-powered data centre in Southern Denmark.

This announcement is a testament to Apple’s unwavering commitment to the Paris pledge, and comes shortly after the tech giant’s issuance of a $1 billion green bond in June earlier this year.

Based in Aabenraa, the data facility, which will begin operations in 2019, will function for customers across Europe, powering internet services such as the iTunes Store, Siri, App Store, and iMessage.

An Apple spokesperson said, in reference to the data centres: “As they all run on 100 per cent renewable energy, no matter how much data they handle, there is zero greenhouse gas emissions impact from their electricity use”.

It is estimated that the centre will create around 300 jobs in construction and approximately 100 jobs when the facility goes live in 2019.

Apple’s first data centre, also in Denmark, in Viborg, is expected to go live at the end of this year.

Denmark is fast becoming the focal point for data centres in Northern Europe due to the reliability of its grid – the country is also hoping that these expenditures will augment its IT sector. 

Additionally, the Nordic country has a plentiful supply of wind energy and biomass energy, making it a suitable choice to locate the clean energy data centres.