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Apple to Double Size of Fuel Cell Facility at N.C. Data Center

Apple to Double Size of Fuel Cell Facility at N.C. Data Center

Apple is reported to have filed plans to more than double the size of its fuel cell facility at its data center in Maiden, North Carolina. The original 4.8 megawatt capacity will be increased to 10 megawatts.

The Charlotte Observer, via MacRumors:

Fifty fuel cells adjacent to its $1 billion data center in Maiden are expected to be operating by January, Apple said in papers filed with the N.C. Utilities Commission. It will be fueled by “directed biogas” in which cleaned methane gas from a landfill is injected into a natural gas pipeline.

The company says the initial 4.8 megawatt phase was brought up, and testing began in October. It applied in November to obtain an amended state permit to increase the size of the project.

Apple is using the fuel cell facility, along with two massive solar farms to attempt to achieve its goal of only using 100% renewable energy at all of its data centers. The Maiden fuel cell facility is already said to be the largest of its type in the United States that isn’t owned by a utility company.