Apple And SunPower Are Partnering In China

Apple Inc. AAPL has been stepping up its green power projects of late. Some of its projects has resulted in reducing water consumption at its state-of-the-art data center in North Carolina by using a cooling system that reuses water 35 times, or reducing its employee transportation emissions by 59 percent. Apple is now looking to taking its green initiatives outside of the U.S. through a new partnership with SunPower Corporation SPWR to build 40 megawatts of solar PV projects in China's western Sichuan province. SunPower has already provided solar solutions to Apple on six U.S. projects totaling 90 MW in California, Nevada and North Carolina. The new agreement marks SunPower's first international solar collaboration with Apple. "This is a tremendous groundbreaking collaboration, bringing together a diverse group of experienced partners from different parts of the globe to build renewable solar energy ventures that contribute to the local economy and the environment. Our unique, existing partnerships in China allowed for these projects to come to fruition quickly," said Tom Werner, president and CEO, SunPower in a press release. "These projects will provide clean, renewable energy, help address climate change, and continue to provide agricultural benefits to the local farmers, while protecting the area's precious land. We continue to value our partnership with Apple and commend them for their global environmental commitment." The question remains why is Apple interested investing in solar projects in China when it won't directly benefit its operations. Apple's foray into solar technology comes at a time when other high-tech rivals including Google Inc GOOG GOOGL, Facebook Inc FB and others who are taking stakes in solar power and other renewable energy projects domestically and internationally. Forbes noted that Apple "clearly" has a strong interest in solar energy development, particularly in China where most of its products are manufactured. However, the publication also admitted that Apple's foray into China "seems unusual."