Apple becomes an energy company
Apple has created a subsidiary, Apple Energy LLC, that’s seeking federal permission to sell power at wholesale and provide grid services in California, the Midwest, New England and the Southwest, according to the company’s filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Apple Energy, which will operate out of the company’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters, is seeking permission to sell capacity from a number of solar arrays in California and Nevada. The company asked FERC to approve the tariff changes as of Aug. 5.
Apple also told FERC it retained Navigant Consulting Inc., which found the company meets the criteria for selling electricity at market rates, namely because it doesn’t play a big enough role in the power markets to influence prices.
Apple has been pushing the green envelope wider in recent years with the help of Lisa Jackson, its vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives and U.S. EPA’s former administrator. Earlier this year, Jackson said 93 percent of the company’s global facilities — including data centers and stores — now run on renewable energy (Greenwire, March 22).