According to news reports in The Charlotte Observer, Apple has quietly begun to prepare building a massive solar farm right next door to their (also massive) data centre in Maiden, North Carolina. Although building permits have yet to be submitted to Catawba County officials, the County has given Apple permission to reshape the slope in preparation of the solar farm.

The land covered by this solar farm will be around 171 acres and is located just across the road from the data centre. As part of the solar farm, Apple has purchased 3 separate ‘sites’, including one from October last year and is merging them into one large site for the solar farm. As the Hickory Daily Record notes, nearby residents haven’t exactly been thrilled with the land work being done. To help clear the land, fire is being used to help clear the land, but it is causing significant amounts of smoke that is drifting into the houses of those nearby residents.

[Via MacRumors]