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Apple Is Developing Rooftop Solar in Taiwan for Soy Sauce Facility

Apple Is Developing Rooftop Solar in Taiwan for Soy Sauce Facility

(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. is developing rooftop solar arrays with Taiwan’s Wan Ja Shan Brewery Co., best known for its popular soy sauce, as the Cupertino company boosts its use of renewable energy.

The 50,000-square-meter soy sauce facility that will carry solar panels on its roof is located in the southern Taiwanese county of Pingtung, Wan Ja Shan Brewery manager Tony Chung told Bloomberg News. The solar project is set to start before the end of this year, he said.

Chung added that it took 18 months of talks before Apple signed a deal with his company, but declined to provide further details. He noted that the company set up its solar business five years ago.

An Apple spokeswoman pointed Bloomberg News to the company’s environment initiatives page without commenting specifically on the Taiwan project.

The partnership was first revealed by the U.S.-based Center for Resource Solutions, which says it is working with Apple to verify and certify its renewable energy projects in Singapore and Taiwan.

In April 2018, Apple said all of its global facilities, including stores, offices and data centers across 43 countries, were powered with 100% clean energy. It said this year that 44 suppliers have committed to making Apple products on 100% clean energy, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Apple’s main chip-making partner and the island’s biggest company by market capitalization.

To contact the reporters on this story: Debby Wu in Taipei at dwu278@bloomberg.net;Miaojung Lin in Taipei at mlin179@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Edwin Chan at echan273@bloomberg.net, Vlad Savov

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.