Apple has quietly begun work on a solar farm that apparently could help power its sprawling data center in southern Catawba County.
Permits issued by Catawba County show that the Cupertino, Calif., company has been approved to reshape the slope of some of the 171 acres of vacant land Apple owns on Startown Road, opposite the data center, in preparation of building a solar farm.
Apple did not immediately respond to an email from The Observer with questions about the solar farm.
But the company’s website says Apple prides itself on using sustainable energy in some of its facilities. Its plants in Austin, Texas; Sacramento, Calif.; and Cork, Ireland, are 100 percent powered by renewable energy.
Duke Energy, which supplies electricity to Apple in Catawba County, is predominately powered by coal and nuclear plants. Duke has solar arrays in Catawba County near the Marshall Steam Station.
The engineering plans show how the company will keep soil that it moves around the site from washing into creeks and other areas. The permit has no detail about the solar farm itself, including its size. A Charlotte firm is listed on the erosion control permit as the contractor.
The plans say the site will have multiple gravel roads for access to its solar panels.
The plans are called “Project Dolphin Solar Farm A Expanded.” Project Dolphin was the code name given Apple‘s plans to build a $1-billion data center in Maiden.
County officials appear to know little about the solar farm, except for a staff engineer who approved the erosion control permit. Even Economic Development Corp. chief Scott Millar, who helped bring Apple to Maiden, did not about the solar farm until a reporter showed him the erosion control permits.
Millar said he has had “no communication” with Apple about its plans, but has said data centers like Apple‘s require large amounts of power to run its servers and cooling system. Duke Energy’s lower-than-average rates helped attract Apple to the site, located on U.S. 321 and Startown Road.
Information about the solar farm will come when Apple applies for a building permit, said Toni Norton, a county engineer who has inspected Apple’s erosion control plans for the site.
The county has not yet been asked to approve a building permit for the property. Neither has the town of Maiden, said town manager Todd Herms.
