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Apple's "Spaceship" to be Powered by 5MW Solar Rooftop

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Apple has updated their plans that describe their future headquarters yesterday. The updated Spaceship campus is now planned to include solar panels on its roof, and as ugly as it may have looked through the eyes of Steve Jobs, maybe, the idea is not bad – after all it will generate around 5 megawatts of clean electricity to power the factory where grown-up toys are made.

The Spaceship’s rooftop has been estimated to have around 750,000 square feet. 9to5mac.com, a website specialized in Apple news calculated that about 500,000 sq ft will be used for solar power. Assuming that an average solar panel produces around 10 watts per square foot, that gives the 5 megawatt figure.

Other buildings and spaces could be fitted with Apple’s solar panels, like a 320,000 sq ft parking building (although I remember Jobs said they’ll build an underground parking space).

That much solar power will kick Google’s behind in a brutal way, since they only have 1.6 MW installed. Other solar powered buildings around the US are located in Edison New Jersey (4.26 MW) and another at ToysRus (also in NJ) of 5.38 MW.

“I think what we’re going to end up doing is making the energy center our primary source of power, because we can generate power with natural gas and other ways that can be cleaner and cheaper, and use the grid as our backup. We think that makes more sense,” Jobs said this June in front of the Cupertino city council, when presenting the Spaceship’s plans.

Here’s the Youtube video showing a weakened Jobs in front of the council. Well, some of them asked stupid questions (like “what are the advantages of you building this for the people of Cupertino”), but you can see him managing the situation:

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