Apple is considering investing more than €400m in at least six Irish renewable energy projects to power its planned data centre in Co. Galway.

This week the company has looked for proposals from firms pitching eco-friendly energy projects with a capacity of up to 50 megawatts.

Irish Times reports that Apple has not specified if it is particularly interested in any certain types of renewable projects but they have to be in the Republic of Ireland, and those in close "proximity to Athenry" will have an advantage.

Th US-based company is to invest €850m developing a new data centre in Galway. 300 jobs will be created during the construction process, and when completed in 2017 the centre will have 100 employees.

Apple's tax payments in Ireland are currently being investigated by the European Commission - it has indicated that a ruling on the case could come during the current quarter.