When Apple built its huge data center in North Carolina last year, the company got a lot of stick for the amount of coal burned just to power that monstrosity. It had a huge energy bill. But, Apple always had a plan to use as much renewable energy as possible, and purchased an even bigger chunk of land to plant its own solar farm.

A local TV station flew over the newly built sea of solar panels and caught a few snapshots. If you thought the data center was big, you should see this thing. It’s not just the size that impresses me though. All these sun-ray capturing panels track the sun’s movements as it creeps across the sky, absorbing as much power as they can.

It’s not finished yet though. As noted by GigaOM: “When done this first solar farm will stretch across 100 acres and generate 20 MW. Apple is also building another 20 MW solar farm near by.” In other words, this one’s not quite as big as it will be when complete, and there’s another one the same size on its way. Apple would have saved more space and energy had it just built a Nuclear Power Station. I’m impressed.