Apple Ventures into Solar Power
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook threw his weight behind solar energy with an $850 million deal to buy power from First Solar, the biggest developer of solar farms in the U.S. This new pledge puts Apple on the same page as other big businesses, including Google, Microsoft and Amazon, who have also bought into solar power in a big way.
With this new purchase, Apple will get 130 megawatts of solar power, enough to power “60,000 California homes.” This new purchase isn’t Apple’s first foray into solar energy; Apple already has two 20 Mw plants in North Carolina, two more in development, and currently powers all of its data centers on renewable energy.
Though Cook stresses his belief in climate change, he emphasizes that Apple’s investment in solar is a good business deal.
Apple isn’t investing in solar as a gift to humanity. It’s doing it because it’s a good business deal, “We expect to have very significant savings,” Cook stressed at the Goldman Sachs conference. The $850 million agreement is expect to supply enough electricity to power “all of Apple’s California stores, offices, headquarters and a data center.”
With the price of solar dropping quicker than that of wind, Apple’s big deal could be “a milestone on the road to cheap, unsubsidized power from the sun.”
The current solar minimum may “dim” (pun intended) some of the solar energy prospects over the next few decades.
Again, politics triumphs over facts and reason in the near term.