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Apple acquired the 45 Mile Hydroelectric Plant near its Prineville, Oregon, data center in a transaction reported in April 2014. Contemporary reports said the project was expected to generate 3–5 megawatts (MW), but Apple’s 2026 environmental report does not identify the plant as part of the site’s current renewable-energy portfolio.

What hydroelectric plant did Apple buy?

The facility was the 45 Mile Hydroelectric Plant, a project developed by EBD Hydro near Apple’s data center in Prineville, Oregon. Data Center Knowledge reported on April 14, 2014, that the project had been transferred to Apple in December before the article was published. Utility Dive reported the acquisition the following day. Neither report disclosed the purchase price.

The plant was planned at a concrete drop structure on the North Unit Irrigation District’s main irrigation canal in Jefferson County. The design would divert canal water for about half a mile, run it through a turbine to generate electricity, and return the water to the canal. Data Center Knowledge’s 2014 account describes the project and its location.

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How much power was it expected to generate?

Data Center Knowledge and Utility Dive each reported a projected output of 3–5 MW. These were estimates reported in 2014, not verified measurements of the plant’s operating output.

Utility Dive put the Prineville data center’s then-estimated full-capacity demand at 30–40 MW. On those contemporaneous estimates, the plant’s projected output was smaller than the site’s full-capacity demand; the figures do not establish how much electricity the plant actually supplied to the facility. Utility Dive’s 2014 report provides both historical estimates.

Does Apple still use the 45 Mile plant at Prineville?

Apple’s 2026 Environmental Progress Report says the Prineville data center has been “100 percent renewable since opening May 2012” and describes two microhydro projects that use flow from local irrigation canals. It does not name the 45 Mile Hydroelectric Plant, so the report does not establish whether Apple still owns or operates that specific facility or whether it remains among the two projects.

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How the 45 Mile project fits Apple’s reported energy portfolio

Apple’s 2026 report describes several distinct renewable-energy arrangements associated with Prineville. They should not be confused with the 45 Mile plant’s 2014 projected capacity.

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Arrangement or figure What Apple reported
Montague Wind Power Facility A 200 MW power purchase agreement.
Solar Star Oregon II A 56 MW agreement.
Oregon solar portfolio A long-term agreement for environmental attributes from eight solar projects totaling 69 MW.
Prineville electricity use 267 million kWh in 2025.
Emissions avoided 79,000 metric tons of CO2e in 2025, calculated using the GHG Protocol’s market-based emissions methodology.

These figures are Apple’s report statements, not measurements of output from the 45 Mile plant. The report’s renewable-energy procurement information also does not by itself show that electricity from a particular project was physically delivered directly to the data center.

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