Apple has spent almost US$3 million to buy more than 200 acres of property in Catawba County, North Carolina, for another solar farm, reports "The Hickory Daily Record" (http://macte.ch/6HYyy). It’s another step in Apple’s pledge to have its Maiden data center running on 100% renewable energy by the end of 2012, the article adds.

Apple recently closed on the land purchase that includes a tract of 218.885 acres and another tract of 0.251 acres, "according to deeds and a plat book at the Catawba County Register of Deeds," notes "The Hickory Daily Record." Last year it was announced that Apple would build a data center in Catawba County on the outskirts of Maiden, North Carolina. Maiden and Catawba County agreed to US$7.3 million in incentives for Apple in order for them to build the center there.