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Apple Planning Major Expansion of Oregon Data Center

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MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Apple is planning a large-scale expansion of its Prineville, Oregon data center, according to The Oregonian. The report claims Apple is likely to expand upon its current 338,000-square-foot data center with a matching facility and massive solar array this year, after Oregon governor Kate Brown signed a tax bill last week that will exempt Apple and other tech companies from facing millions of dollars in additional property taxes.

Oregon-Apple-Data-Center.jpg
Apple's data center in Prineville, Oregon (Randy L. Rasmussen/The Oregonian)​

Apple is now planning to move forward with its data center plans, according to Judge Mike McCabe, Crook County's top administrator, although exact details surrounding the project are said to remain under negotiation. "They're planning on a major, major expansion," said McCabe. "They haven't shared it with us," he said, "and we haven't seen the plans."

Apple began construction on the first phase of its Oregon data center in October 2012.

Article Link: Apple Planning Major Expansion of Oregon Data Center
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2015/04/08/apple-major-expansion-oregon-data-center/
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2457282

Suspended
Dec 6, 2012
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I have never though of Oregon as a particularly sunny place for a solar farm. I am no expert, but I guess they would need more panels to collect the same energy compared to a solar farm in say Arizona. Can anyone opine on my guess here with facts? It would be interesting to understand how location affects solar panel surface area requirements. Thanks!
 
antipex

antipex

macrumors member
Aug 31, 2006
90
36
Portland, Oregon
Cuban Missles said:
I have never though of Oregon as a particularly sunny place for a solar farm. I am no expert, but I guess they would need more panels to collect the same energy compared to a solar farm in say Arizona. Can anyone opine on my guess here with facts? It would be interesting to understand how location affects solar panel surface area requirements. Thanks!
Click to expand...

Prineville is located in the high desert of Central Oregon, east of the Cascade mountains and rain-shadowed from the relentless rains of Western Oregon.
 
D

Deelron

macrumors regular
Jan 30, 2009
235
113
antipex said:
Prineville is located in the high desert of Central Oregon, east of the Cascade mountains and rain-shadowed from the relentless rains of Western Oregon.
Click to expand...

This, once you get past the Cascades the Pacific Northwest it's very much a desert (Prineville gets ~10 inches of rain a year).
 
U

unplugme71

macrumors 68030
May 20, 2011
2,827
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Earth
Solar panels are actually more effective in cooler climates. Once the temperature passes a certain point - I think its 75-80 degrees, it begins to lose its efficiency. It gets much worse past 100F.

The solar panels the past company I worked for had, generated more power in the fall through early spring.
 
C

campyguy

macrumors 68040
Mar 21, 2014
3,413
957
antipex said:
Prineville is located in the high desert of Central Oregon, east of the Cascade mountains and rain-shadowed from the relentless rains of Western Oregon.
Click to expand...
Not picking nits with you, I wouldn't go so far as to say it's rain-shadowed! Prineville lies at the western base of the Ochoco Mountains and the city does see a fair bit of rainfall from the weather that butts up against the Mountains.

The last bridge I helped design and build - I was the construction manager for the design firm hired by the City and State - replaced the second Main Street bridge, which replaced the first Main Street Bridge, both of which were taken out by flash floods traveling down Ochoco Creek. The most recent design accounted for the heavy water flows down the Creek. The project, which also replaced the Deer Street Bridge several blocks west, shut down for several heavy rain events - and the project ran from June to early November. The foothills of the Ochocos are pretty green, but I still wouldn't want to live there...
 
S

seb101

macrumors member
Apr 3, 2014
91
66
Cuban Missles said:
I have never though of Oregon as a particularly sunny place for a solar farm. I am no expert, but I guess they would need more panels to collect the same energy compared to a solar farm in say Arizona. Can anyone opine on my guess here with facts? It would be interesting to understand how location affects solar panel surface area requirements. Thanks!
Click to expand...

I would imagine there is a careful balance to strike between solar energy and extreme heat. If you place it somewhere sunny but also extremely hot, the gain in solar input energy would be completely wiped out by the additional cooling requirements for the datacenter equipment. The ideal location would be somewhere with good solar coverage, but with a temperate climate, ideally with winds that will convect heat naturally away from the building.
 
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