• Exclusive Content
  • Events
  • Endeavor Business Media Energy
    1. Distributed Energy

    AEP Orders up to 1 GW in Fuel Cells to Meet Data Center Demand

    Nov. 18, 2024
    The deal with Bloom Energy, which starts with an initial order of 100 MW in SOFCs next year, was touted by both companies as the largest commercial utility fuel cell supply deal yet.
    ID 329988824 © Nathee Sanbooytho | Dreamstime.com
    673b77d738888cc8e092c2a6 Dreamstime Data Center

    Central U.S. electric utility giant American Electric Power (AEP) will try to satisfy a sizable portion of its future data center load growth with fuel cell technology.

    Bloom Energy could supply up to 1 GW of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) capacity to AEP over the coming decade. The deal, which starts with an initial order of 100 MW in SOFCs next year, was touted by both companies as the largest commercial utility fuel cell supply deal yet.

    Bloom Energy previously has worked with AEP on SOFCs for commercial and industrial customers. This new supply deal is aimed at meeting the energy needs of data centers in central Ohio.

    Earlier this year, AEP revealed in an earnings call that it has about 15 GW of load commitment from incoming data center projects over this decade. The rise of artificial intelligence training models is pushing data center electricity demand exponentially.

    “The rapid increase in energy demand is a challenge that AEP is tackling by finding innovative solutions to meet the unique needs of our customers,” AEO CEO and President Bill Fehrman said in a statement. “These fuel cells will help provide data centers and other large customers with the power they need to quickly expand in our regulated footprint as we continue to build infrastructure to deliver reliable energy for all our customers.”

    Fuel cells convert fuel such as natural gas or hydrogen into electricity through an electrochemical process. Hydrogen does not contain carbon in its chain so does not emit CO2 when combusted.

    “AEP will deploy the SOFCs as a customer-sited resource where there are delays/constraints in delivering 100% of a customer's power requirements via the grid,” according to Bloom Energy. “The SOFCs can be deployed as supplemental grid power or as a microgrid.”

    Bloom Energy’s SOFC technology also is contracted by other data technology facilities. The company recently announced an agreement to help power Quanta Technologies’ facilities in northern California.

    The AEP deal is unique among utility power generation transactions. Data giants such as Quantas, Microsoft and Google are seeking lower or carbon-free resources to power their facilities.

    “I am delighted that there is strong market recognition that the Bloom Energy platform is the ideal choice for powering AI data centers. We are thrilled to be working with AEP as they lead the charge to bring innovative solutions to the transforming electricity market,” said KR Sridhar, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Bloom Energy. “With our proven track record of more than 1.3 GW deployed, and a fully functional factory that can deliver GWs of products per year, we are ready and able to meet this rapid electricity demand growth.”

    The initial SOFC power generation for AEP will be fueled by natural gas but could eventually mix in carbon-free hydrogen. Even so, Bloom Energy says, the SOFC process reduces SOx and NOx emissions (sulfur and nitrogen oxides), in addition to lower carbon dioxide.

    AEP owns and operates electric utilities in multiple states connecting 5.5 million customers. These include utility operating companies in Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Indiana, Virginia, West Virginia, Texas and Oklahoma.

    Volcanic Geothermal, Sodium-Ion and Nuclear Fusion

    Innovation and Experimentation in the C&I Energy Transition

    Check out our free new EnergyTech E-Book

     

    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

    Email