Apple Invests in Constructing World’s Largest Onshore Wind Turbines

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Apple Invests in Constructing World’s Largest Onshore Wind Turbines (Photo: Apple is investing in two of the world’s largest onshore wind turbines, which are located near Esbjerg in Denmark. Credit: Apple)[/caption]

Apple is investing in the construction of two onshore wind turbines in Denmark that will be among the world’s largest once completed, the company said. The tech giant anticipates power from the turbines supporting their data center in Viborg.

The wind turbines are slated to be built near the town of Esbjerg, each one 200 meters tall. Apple said that, in addition to powering the data center, the onshore wind turbines will act as a test site. Surplus energy would go into the Danish grid, the company added.

Located in Viborg, around 140 kilometers from Esbjerg, Apple’s data center is a 45,000-square-meter facility. Now operational, it helps power the company’s App Store, Apple Music, iMessage, Siri, and additional services in Europe that run entirely on renewable energy from local projects, Apple said.

A newly completed solar project located in Thisted, Northern Jutland supports the Viborg data center as well. It’s one of Scandinavia’s largest solar arrays and the first Danish solar project built without relying on public subsidies, the company said. Apple is developing the solar project and the Esbjerg wind project in partnership with European Energy.

Recently Apple released plans to become carbon neutral within the decade across the company’s entire business, manufacturing supply chain, and product life-cycle. The company said that even though their operations are already carbon neutral and powered by 100% renewable energy, the new goal would mean that every device sold would have “net zero climate impact” by 2030.

In order to meet that goal, Apple says that the company is transitioning all of its European-based suppliers to renewable power. This week the company reported that Germany-based supplier Varta had committed to running its Apple production entirely on renewable energy. Other suppliers across Europe are making similar progress. They include Henkel and Tesa in Germany, DSM Engineering Materials in the Netherlands, STMicroelectronics in Switzerland, and Solvay in Belgium, according to Apple.

“These solutions include DSM’s wind power purchase agreement in the Netherlands and STMicroelectronics’s solar carport in Morocco,” the tech giant said. “Companies like Solvay are now expanding their use of renewable energy to their broader operations after joining Apple’s Supplier Clean Energy Program five years ago.” Since then, 72 manufacturing partners in 17 countries committed to 100% renewable energy for Apple production.

Environment + Energy Leader