Apple to Spend $1.9B Building Data Centres in Ireland and Denmark

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Apple will invest €1.7 billion ($1.93 billion) to build and operate two data centres in Europe, the company announced today in a press release. In line with Apple’s environmental policy, the data centres located in County Galway, Ireland, and Denmark’s central Jutland will be powered by 100% renewable energy. The new centres will power Apple’s online services, such as the iTunes Store, App Store, iMessage, Maps and Siri for European customers.

“We are grateful for Apple’s continued success in Europe and proud that our investment supports communities across the continent,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “This significant new investment represents Apple’s biggest project in Europe to date. We’re thrilled to be expanding our operations, creating hundreds of local jobs and introducing some of our most advanced green building designs yet.”

To seamlessly integrate into the community and lower the environment impact, Apple will recover Irish land previously used for growing and harvesting non-native trees, and restore native trees. The Irish data centre will also provide an outdoor educational space for local schools and a walking trail.

The Viborg, Denmark-based data centre will stand out with its ability to capture excess heat from equipment inside the facility and transfer it into the district heating system to help warm homes in the neighboring community.

The two new data centres will cover 166,000 square metres and will be up and running by 2017.

“We believe that innovation is about leaving the world better than we found it, and that the time for tackling climate change is now,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environmental Initiatives. “We’re excited to spur green industry growth in Ireland and Denmark and develop energy systems that take advantage of their strong wind resources. Our commitment to environmental responsibility is good for the planet, good for our business and good for the European economy.”

Apple currently employs a total of 18,300 people in 19 European countries, and has added more than 2,000 jobs in the last 12 months.

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