After nearly four years of construction, Apple's new iCloud data center, located near the Danish city of Viborg in Europe, is now operational. Like all of the company's data centers, this one's running on 100 percent renewable energy. Earlier this summer, the Cupertino company completed one of Scandinavia’s largest solar arrays to power the Viborg facility. It marks the first Danish solar project built without the use of public subsidies.
Denmark
Apple invests in the construction of two of the world’s largest onshore wind turbines
Apple today said it's advanced its self-imposed 2030 carbon neutral goal by investing in the world’s largest onshore wind turbines in Denmark and new clean energy efforts in Germany.
Apple Maps launches transit directions in Denmark, Sweden, Norway & Finland
Apple has expanded availability of transit directions in its Maps app for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch to four European markets: Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland.
LTE Apple Watch Series 3 coming to Denmark, Sweden & India next month
Apple has acknowledged that the latest Apple Watch Series 3 models with LTE cellular connectivity will be launching in Denmark, Sweden and India on Friday, May 11, with pre-orders starting a week earlier on Friday, May 4.
Apple Pay to launch in UAE, Denmark, Finland & Sweden later this year
Apple announced during yesterday's earnings call with Wall Street analysts and investors that its contactless mobile payments system is coming to customers in the United Arab Emirates, Denmark, Finland and Sweden before the end of this calendar year.
Apple will build another data center in Denmark
Apple will build another iCloud data center in the Danish city Aabenraa near the German border, its second in the country, Apple's Nordic director Erik Stannow told Reuters today.
The Cupertino company will spend 6 billion Danish crowns, which works out to approximately $921 million, on the facility which will be powered entirely by renewable energy.
It will power App Store, Siri, iMessage, Maps and other iCloud services. Construction is expected to start before the end of 2017.
Stannow told Reuters in an email:
We're thrilled to be expanding our data center operations in Denmark, and investing in new sources of clean power. The planned facility in Aabenraa, like all of our data centers, will run on 100 percent renewable energy from day one, thanks to new clean energy sources we're adding.
He added that the reliability of the Danish grid is one of the main reasons Apple will operate two data centers in Denmark, a leader in wind power which also has abundant supplies of biomass energy.
If all goes as planned, the facility should go online in the second quarter of 2019.
The iPhone maker is also building a $1 billion data center in Denmark's Foulum, a small town located just outside of Viborg, a city in central Jutland that is home to Aarhus University and agricultural research facilities.
That facility should go online later this year, barring any unforeseen circumstances.
Apple is also building a data centre in Ireland but it's been struggling to get it off the ground because local residents asked the High Court for a judicial review on environmental grounds.
"The proposed data center is currently under judicial review," a spokeswoman said.
Image: Apple's data center in Maiden, North Carolina