Expansion at Apple site in Maiden

MAIDEN, N.C.,None — Secrecy is something for which the California-based technology giant Apple is known.

And so it has been the case with its data center in Maiden. As motorists drive by on Startown Road, there’s no way to catch a glimpse of the structure from the road.

Until now.

Apple is in the process of building the largest, private solar farm in the country to help power its data center in Maiden. The solar farm is located across the street from the data center.

And this week, work has started on the main campus of the data center. Driving by the campus, you can actually see the structure from the road. That’s because part of the berm — an earthen wall — has been demolished as part of some type of construction.

What type of construction taking place on the main campus is not clear. No one is talking, or seems to know.

Some local officials who have been dealing with the company signed a non-disclosure agreement when Apple first announced in 2009 it would build the data center in Maiden.

However, anytime something is constructed it requires building, and usually, zoning permits.

An erosion control permit was issued Tuesday to Holder Construction for a little more than 34 acres at 5977 Startown Road, which is the address of the data center. The work described on the permit is “grading for new building.”

On Wednesday, an application for a building permit on the property was filed with Catawba County. The name on the permit application is Holder Construction. Holder Construction, based in Atlanta, has been the major contractor for all of the construction work at the Apple data center site, according to officials.

The work described on the application is, “Non-occupied Equipment Building ** Maiden Zoning **.”

Then on Friday, Maiden issued a zoning permit to Holder for what it said was a “tactical data center.”

Maiden Town Manager Todd Herms said anytime something larger than 12 feet long or 12 feet wide is being constructed it has to have a zoning permit.

Whether the building is a second data center or something to house the 5-megawatt fuel cell that’s planned for the site remains to be seen.

Herms said, “It’s not clear how large the tactical data center will be but one can assume it would be to support ongoing operations at the site.”

When Apple first announced it would build a data center in Maiden, the plans called for two identical data centers, Herms said. The company has built one so far.

Herms said plans change, though, and he can’t say if the company plans to stick to the original plans.

“At some point, they’re going to make use of the land available to them, and we hope this is the time they’ve chosen to do so,” Herms said.

Scott Millar, president of the Catawba County Economic Development Corp., said the company doesn’t’ have to ask for permission when, or if, it decides to build a second data center, except to get proper permits.

Millar said the current 500,000-square-foot data center sits on 11.5 acres. He questioned whether the company would need 34 acres — the amount named in the erosion control permit issued Tuesday — to build another 500,000-square-foot data center.

On Monday, the town also issued a stormwater grading permit, which said it was for the “installation of electrical duct bank.”

Renewable energy now part of plan

In June, when the company announced its iCloud services it said it had spent more than $500 million at its data center in Maiden. When Apple first announced it was building in Maiden, officials said the company would spend $1 billion when everything was complete.

The company is in the process of building the largest end user–owned, onsite solar farm in the country. The land has been cleared and a berm has been built that fronts Startown Road. The 100-acre solar farm is across Startown Road from the data center. It will be a 20-megawatt facility that will supply 42 million kilowatt-hours of clean, renewable energy yearly, according to information on Apple’s website.

The company also is building a 5-megawatt “fuel cell installation” that will be the “largest non-utility fuel cell installation operating anywhere in the country,” the information on the company’s website says. The facility will be directly adjacent to the data center and could be in operation toward the end of the year, the website says. The fuel cell installation will be powered by 100 percent biogas and provide more than 40 million kwh of renewable energy a year. According to an example of usage on Duke Energy’s website, one kilowatt-hour of electricity can power 10 100-watt light bulbs for one hour.

Millar said from everything he’s reading, Apple will be producing power by October and be finished with the project by December.

Millar said when the company announced it would build a data center in Maiden it planned to hire 50 employees and spend $1 billion over a nine-year period on the data center. He said after the first year, the company had 76 employees. That doesn’t include the indirect employees such those that supply security and mechanical work.

Officials in the county hope Apple is not the only data center that ends up here.

Millar said the announcement of the solar farm and fuel cell helps the data center world and the energy industry focus on Catawba County.

“I mean, this isn’t small potatoes. This is huge,” Millar said. “That’s very helpful for us to be king of solar.”

WSOC