Apple to spend billions on two new Euro data centres

Apple will build two new, environmentally sustainable data centres in Ireland and Denmark at a cost of €1.7 billion (A$2.5 billion), the company has announced.

Each facility will be 166,000 square metres in size, and will be used for Apple online and cloud services such as the iTunes and its App store, iMessage, Maps and Siri for European customers.

Both new facilities will be powered by fully renewable energy sources such as wind, with Apple promising that they will have the lowest environmental impact of any of the company's data centres.

Apple did not provide exact details on which renewable energy sources it intends to use for the data centres, however.

Nor did the company respond to queries from iTnews on the design for power usage efficiency, total rack space capacity and server hardware choice for the data centres.

It's new Danish facility in Viborg, Jutland, will be seated next to one of the country's largest electrical substations, Apple said. This will obviate the need for additional generators. Excess heat from the data centre will also be fed into the Viborg district central heating system to warm houses.

Apple's Irish facility in Athenry, County Galway, will be built on recovered forestry land. The company will make up for the necessary clearing by restoring native trees in the Derrydonnel Forest.

The two data centres are expected to be operational in two years' time, Apple said. 

Earlier this year, Apple announced a big push towards renewable energy, and said it would buy US$850 million (A$1 billion) worth of power over the next 25 years from a California solar farm - a total of 130 megawatts capacity.

Apple will also invest US$2 billion (A$2.6 billion) into a failed sapphire glass plant in Arizona that will be mostly powered by solar energy, the company said.