Apple Inc. has announced that they have plans to construct two of the world’s largest onshore wind turbines in line with its goal to become entirely carbon neutral in 10 years’ time as they announced back in June of 2020.
The power produced by the turbines, located in Denmark, will support Apple’s data center in Viborg, the company said in a blog post-Thursday. The Viborg center backs Apple’s key products, including the App Store, Apple Music, iMessage, and Siri. Located near the Danish town of Esbjerg, the 200-meter-tall turbines are expected to produce 62-gigawatt hours each year — enough to power almost 20,000 homes — and will act as a test site for powerful offshore wind turbines. The power produced at Esbjerg will support Apple’s data center in Viborg, with all surplus energy going into the Danish grid.
Also Read: 520MW Offshore wind farm to be constructed in Hokkaido.
Apple on Thursday said that Varta, a German-based supplier, committed to running its Apple production with 100% renewable power. So far, 72 manufacturing partners have committed to completely renewable energy for Apple production, they added. Once all of Apple’s supplier projects are completed, these commitments will avoid over 14.3 million metric tons of CO2e annually — the equivalent of taking more than 3 million cars off the road each year.
Apple has made several efforts to fight against climate change and in 2019, they filed a statement stating that severe weather caused by global warming could “cause a temporary disruption in production or the availability of component parts or finished products, in the availability of a data center, or in the availability or productivity of our workforce.” A delay in parts would mean Apple might not be able to ship products on time, which could hurt the company’s sales. “This is an area where we have to lead — for the sake of our planet and future generations,” Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, said in a statement.
