Apple has revealed plans to build a giant 20MW solar array to help power its North Carolina data centre, as part of its latest efforts to reduce the firm's environmental footprint.

The computing giant unveiled the plan in a facilities 2012 report launched this week, which claimed that once built the system will be the largest user-owned onsite solar array in the US.

The array will be installed on 100 acres of land surrounding Apple's recently opened Maiden data centre in North Carolina, which the company claims has already been built to demanding energy efficiency standards.

The report failed to detail how much Apple was investing in the project, or when the array would be completed, saying only that it was making 'major leaps' to ensure a large proportion on the Maiden facility is run using renewable energy.

Apple said it was also building a fuel cell installation adjacent to the data centre, which is expected to be the largest non-utility fuel cell installation operating in the US once completed later this year.

The 5MW facility will be powered by biogas and could provide more than 40 million kWh of baseload renewable energy annually, the company said.

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