Bloom Energy Server

Technology

The Bloom Energy Server uses thin white ceramic plates of size 100 × 100 mm. Each plate is coated with a green nickel oxide-based ink on one side, forming the anode, and another black (probably Lanthanum strontium manganite) ink on the cathode side. Wired reported that the secret ingredient may be yttria-stabilized zirconia based upon that was granted to Bloom in 2009; this material is also one of the most common electrolyte materials in the field. , assigned to Bloom Energy Corporation, says that the "electrolyte includes yttria stabilized zirconia and a scandia-stabilized zirconia, such as a scandia ceria stabilized zirconia". ScSZ has a higher conductivity than YSZ at lower temperatures, which provides greater efficiency and higher reliability when used as an electrolyte. Scandia is scandium oxide () which is a transition metal oxide that costs between US$1,400 and US$2,000 per kilogram in 99.9% pure form. Current annual worldwide production of scandium is improving to around 40 tons per year since 2022, up from the 15-20 tons annually in previous years. Most of the 5,000 kilograms used annually is sourced from Soviet era stockpiles.

To save money, the Bloom Energy Server uses inexpensive metal alloy plates for electric conductance between the two ceramic fast ion conductor plates. In competing lower temperature fuel cells, platinum is required at the cathode.

Costs

Installation

The current cost of each hand-made 100 kW Bloom Energy Server is $700,000–800,000. In 2010, the company announced plans for a smaller, home sized Bloom server priced under $3,000. Bloom estimated the size of a home-sized server at 1 kW, although others recommended 5 kW.{{cite web

According to The New York Times (Green Blog), in early 2011 "... Bloom Energy ... unveiled a service to allow customers to buy the electricity generated by its fuel cells without incurring the capital costs of purchasing the six-figure devices.... Under the Bloom Electrons service, customers sign 10-year contracts to purchase the electricity generated by Bloom Energy Servers while the company retains ownership of the fuel cells and responsibility for their maintenance.... 'We’re able to tell customers, ‘You don’t have to put any money up front, you pay only for the electrons you use and it’s good for your pocketbook and good for planet,’ ' [CEO K.R. Sridhar] said."{{cite news

Usage

On 24 February 2010, Sridhar claimed that his devices were making electricity for $0.08–.10/kWh using natural gas, cheaper than electricity prices in some parts of the United States, such as California.{{cite news

In 2010, Bloom Energy claimed to be developing power purchase agreements to sell electricity produced by the boxes, rather than selling the boxes themselves, in order to address customers' fears about box maintenance, reliability, and servicing costs.{{cite web

As of 2010, 15% of the power consumed by eBay was generated via the use of Bloom Energy Servers. At the time, after factoring in tax incentives which effectively halved the initial cost, eBay expected a three-year payback period based on the then $0.14/kWh cost of commercial electricity in California.{{cite news

electricity produced by fuel cells costs about $0.15 per kilowatt-hour. In comparison, coal-generated power costs $0.07–$0.15, and natural-gas power costs $0.06–$0.09.

Installations

The company says that its first 100-kW Bloom Energy Servers were shipped to Google in July 2008.{{cite web

A 1-megawatt Bloom Box fuel cell system installed at Yahoo headquarters in Sunnyvale, California in 2014 is designed to "power one-third of the electricity to the buildings on Yahoo’s campus."

Stop & Shop Supermarket Company announced a 250 kW system in 2015, and 2020 announced plans to configure 40 MA and NY stores to "microgrids" using Bloom Energy Servers.

Portable units

Sridhar announced plans to install Bloom Energy Servers in third world nations. Ex-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Colin Powell, now a Bloom Energy board member, said the Bloom Energy generators could be useful to the military because they are lighter, more efficient, and generate less heat than traditional generators.

Feasibility

Bloom Energy Servers stack small fuel cells to operate in concert.{{cite web

Venture capitalist John Doerr asserted that the Bloom Energy Server is cheaper and cleaner than the grid. An expert at Gerson Lehrman Group wrote that, given today's electricity transmission losses of about 7% and utility-size gas-fired power stations efficiency of 33–48%, the Bloom Energy Server is up to twice as efficient as a gas-fired power station. Fortune stated that "Bloom has still not released numbers about how much the Bloom Box costs to operate per kilowatt hour" and estimates that natural gas rather than bio-gas will be its primary fuel source.{{cite journal | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100324210819/http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2010/02/23/bloom-box-segway-or-savior/?section=magazines_fortune | archive-date=24 March 2010 | url-status=dead

Efficiency

Bloom claims a conversion efficiency of around 50%, or up to 65% when new. A modern combined cycle gas turbine power plant (CCGT) can reach 60% overall efficiency, while cogeneration (electricity and district heating) can achieve greater than 95% efficiency. Sridhar stated that Bloom's products convert chemical energy to electrical energy in one step, are more fuel efficient than current gas-fired power stations and reduce transmission/distribution losses by producing power where it is used.

Each Bloom Energy Server ES5700 is said to provide 200 kW of power, similar to the baseload needs of 160 average homes or one office building. The average monthly electricity consumption for a U.S. residential utility customer in 2012 was 903 kWh per month (or 1.24 kW mean load).

Sridhar said the boxes have a 10-year life span, although that could include replacing the cells during that period. The CEO of eBay says Bloom Energy Servers have saved the company $100,000 in electricity bills since they were installed in mid-2009,{{cite news | access-date=2010-02-22}} Fortune Magazine contributor Paul Keegan calls that figure "meaningless without the details to see how he got there".

The largest disadvantage is the high operating temperature which results in longer start-up times and mechanical and chemical compatibility issues.

Long-term business case

Assuming a 50% future cost reduction, one could argue that the best case scenario for the 200 kW unit would be a capital (installed) cost comparable to today's 100 kW units, i.e., around $800,000. Using the average electricity price of $100/MWh and natural gas price 3 $/MMBtu and assuming a 6% per year maintenance/operating cost apart from fuel, the break-even period for the device comes to over 8 years, based on published performance numbers.

Long term cost consideration varies because backup generators are no longer necessary since the power grid acts as the emergency backup. No longer having to maintain and replace generators would reduce the break even period.

Competition

A Gerson Lehrman Group analyst wrote that GE dismantled its fuel cell group five years ago and Siemens almost dismantled theirs. GE Power Conversion is researching a SOFC power hybrid.{{Cite web | access-date = 2016-02-28

FuelCell Energy manufactures molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) power plants both for sale and for Power purchase agreement use, and has been demonstrating solid oxide based power plants and electrolyzers, though (as of October 2025) none of the latter have been sold commercially yet.

Sprint owns 15 patents on hydrogen fuel cells and is using 250 fuel cells to provide backup power for its operations. Sprint has been using fuel cell power since 2005. In 2009, Sprint's fuel cell program received a grant of $7.3 million from the United States Department of Energy to expand the hydrogen capacity of its fuel cell tanks from providing up to 15 hours of backup power, to 72 hours. Sprint partnered with ReliOn and Altergy for fuel cell manufacture, and with Air Products and Chemicals as a hydrogen supplier. German fuel cell firm P21 has been working on similar projects to supply backup power for cellular operations.{{cite news | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100227032553/http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2010/tc20100223_146116.htm | url-status= dead | archive-date= February 27, 2010 | access-date=2010-02-24}}

In October 2009, the Department of Energy awarded nearly US$25 million in grants for research and development of solar fuels.{{cite news | access-date=2010-02-24}}

In October 2012, the US government awarded Bloom Energy $70,710,959 under its section 1603 energy awards program.

A competitor claimed the Bloom Box uses a "thick electrolyte" that requires 900 °C temperatures to overcome electrical resistance. Topsoe Fuel Cell and Ceres Power instead employ "thick anode" technology that allows operation at cooler temperature. Ceres has a four-year program to install 37,500 units in the homes of customers of the UK's British Gas.{{cite news

Ballard Power's comparably scaled products are based on proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Ballard's 150 kW units are intended for mobile applications such as municipal buses,{{cite web | access-date=2010-03-04 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707205935/http://www.ballard.com/files/pdf/Spec_Sheets/PEM_FC_Product_Portfolio_docmetrics.pdf | archive-date=2011-07-07 | access-date=2010-03-04

Another competitor in Europe and Australia is Ceramic Fuel Cells. It claims an efficiency of 60% for the power-only units; these fuel cells are based on technology spun off from Australia's CSIRO.

References

References

1. (22 February 2010). "Answering the Unanswered Questions". Gerson Lehrman Group.
2. (2010-02-25). "Bloom Energy Server unveiled, Bloom Box not for the home just yet". Mobilemag.com.
3. (20 January 2011). "Industry leading companies choose Bloom Electrons for immediate cost savings and carbon reduction benefits". Bloom Energy.
4. Schmit, Julie. (24 February 2010). "Clean, cheap power from fuel cells in a box?". USA Today.
5. Subhash C. Singhal, Kevin Kendall. (2003). "High temperature solid oxide fuel cells: fundamentals, design, and applications". Elsevier.
6. Kanellos, Michael. (22 February 2010). "Bloom Box fuel cell launch".
7. "High Purity Scandium Metal Market Size [2034], Growth, Forecast".
8. Fareed Zakaria. (2010-04-22). "K.R. Sridhar: Bloom Energy's Fuel-Cell Guru – Newsweek and The Daily Beast".
9. Leo Mirani. (2013). "A Fuel and His Money—Nobody in the fuel cell industry has ever made a profit—this CEO could be the first". G/O Media Inc..
10. Hull, Dana. (2014-07-31). "Yahoo is Bloom Energy's latest customer". SiliconBeat.
11. (2020-01-16). "Stop & Shop to convert 40 of its stores to microgrids in preparation for severe weather and power outages".
12. (24 February 2010). "Live from the Bloom Box press event".
13. Caption by: Josh Lowensohn, Michelle Meyers. (2010-02-24). "Bloom board member Colin Powell – Meet the Bloom box (images) - CNET News".
14. Martin LaMonica. (2010-03-01). "Parsing fact from fiction with the Bloom Energy box | Green Tech – CNET News".
15. (13 February 2020). "The Forbes Investigation: How Bloom Energy Blew Through Billions Promising Cheap, Green Tech That Falls Short".
16. (2009-10-07). "KR Sridhar: Transcript of Fresh Dialogues Interview Part One". Fresh Dialogues.
17. "Energy Server – What is it?". Bloom Energy.
18. (2014-01-10). "How much electricity does an American home use? – FAQ – U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)".
19. (2011-10-13). "Clean, Renewable Energy | Bloom Energy Solid Oxide Fuel Cells".
20. "FuelCell Energy signs $160M deal for Hartford power plant, boosting Connecticut's renewable energy". CT Insider.
21. "FuelCell Energy Announces Solid Oxide Electrolysis and Fuel Cell Platform".
22. (Apr 17, 2009). "Sprint Receives $7.3 Million U.S. Department of Energy Grant to Expand Hydrogen Fuel Cell Deployment".
23. "Recovery Act".
24. "Topsoe Fuel Cell".
25. "CFCL". Ceramic Fuel Cells.