A lease agreement between Apple and Catawba County, North Carolina, will bring a renewable energy facility to harness landfill gas, a report by the Hickory Record says. Apple operates a 183-acre data center in Maiden, North Carolina, in Catawba County.
The 16-year lease gives Cupertino, California-based Apple about 3.7 acres of land on the Blackburn Resource Recovery Facility in Newton, North Carolina, the report says. For the first five years, annual rent will be at a rate of $1,500 per acre, totaling at $5,569.50 per year. After five years, the rent price will fluctuate but will never go below $1,500 per acre.
The facility will use treated methane to create electricity using fuel cells, the report says. The county also created a separate landfill gas sales agreement with Quadrogen Power Systems Inc., with U.S. offices in Santa Ana, California, to sell about 40 percent of its landfill methane and treat the methane to use in the Apple facility.
The rest of the gas will be used by the county for electricity, the report says. The county uses three Jenbacher engines by GE to produce electricity from the methane.
