The North Carolina Utilities Commission has officially approved Apple’s proposal to construct a 4.8-megawatt fuel cell electric generating facility near its data center in Maiden, North Carolina, reports “MacRumors” (http://www.macrumors.com). The Commission previously approved a plan by Apple to build the first of two 20 megawatt solar farms around its data center.

Last year it was announced that Apple was building a 500,000 square foot data center in Catawba County on the outskirts of Maiden. Maiden and Catawba County agreed to US$7.3 million in incentives for Apple in order for them to build the center there.