Apple's North Carolina data center is about to expand its solar farm by 100 acres. The iPhone and iPad maker is planning on applying for a grading permit before the end of the year, and once completed, the US$55 million project will generate 17.5 megawatts.

Apple to expand its Maiden data center solar farm

Expanding the solar farm with this new building project is expected to create 75 jobs during construction, according to the Hickory Daily Record, and Apple has agreed to hire locally as much as possible.

Apple uses the solar farms to power its data center in Maiden, North Carolina. The company already has two 20 megawatt soloar farms near by, as well as a bio fuel cell facility.

All that power is used to run the 500,000 square foot building, but that could change soon to include a second structure. Apple filed plans earlier this year to build a 14,246 square foot building at its Maiden site, although the company isn't saying exactly what it plans to do with the facility once it's completed.

The new solar farm could be an expansion to handle the power needs of the second building. Construction for the new solar farm will take about five years.