Oracle and Bloom Energy strike data centre power deal

Onsite power generation developer Bloom Energy will deploy its fuel cell technology at select Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) data centers in the US, with the company claiming it will deliver onsite power for an entire data centre within 90 days.

“We continue to see strong global demand for OCI services across our entire data center portfolio including our large gigawatt AI data centres,” said Mahesh Thiagarajan, executive vice president, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. “Customers expect to run their AI workloads and new AI applications at peak performance. Bloom’s fuel cell technology will join OCI’s extensive energy portfolio, further supporting our cutting-edge AI infrastructure with reliable, clean power that can be quickly deployed and easily scaled.”

Solid oxide fuel cells are typically used for auxiliary power, electric utilities and distributed generation.

Their advantages include high efficiency (a lower heating value of 60%), fuel flexibility, combined heat and power (CHP) capabilities, and hybrid/gas turbine cycle capabilities, per the US Department of Energy (DOE). However, they also suffer from high temperature corrosion and breakdown of cell components, long start-up times compared to other forms of generation, and a limited number of shutdowns.

Have you read?
E.ON partners on local power gen solutions for data centres
Eaton and Siemens Energy team up to fast-track data centre deployment

Bloom Energy has previously reached onsite power agreements with with Equinix, American Electric Power (AEP), and Quanta Computing. To date, Bloom Energy has deployed over 400MW to power data centres worldwide.

Earlier this year, Bloom Energy released results from a survey that found data centre developers continue to turn to onsite power amid rising demand. The latest survey results found that by 2030, 38% of facilities are expected to incorporate primary onsite generation, up from 13% a year ago. 27% of facilities expect being fully powered by onsite generation by 2030, up from just 1% a year ago.

Historically, data centres have used onsite power mostly for backup purposes. The shift toward onsite power generation as a primary source of power comes in response to data centres facing grid connection delays.

As onsite power adoption accelerates, Bloom Energy noted that air permitting may become a gating factor in project viability, especially for those adopting combustion-based generation. The company said 46% of publicly announced data centre builds are located in non-attainment zones, where stricter emissions permitting applies.

Data centre developers are also underestimating wait times for power. Utilities report significantly longer timelines to deliver power in key US markets, typically 1 to 2 years beyond what hyperscalers and colocation developers expect, the survey found.

Last November, we reported that AEP agreed to secure up to 1GW of Bloom Energy solid oxide fuel cells for data centres and other large energy users who need to quickly power their operations while the grid is still being built out to accommodate demand.

Originally published by Sean Wolfe on Power Engineering Factor This