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Bloom Energy
American fuel cell company From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Bloom Energy (formerly, Ion America) is an American public company that designs and manufactures solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) which independently produce electricity onsite for power generation in data centers, manufacturing, and other commercial sectors. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in San Jose, California; its fuel cell technology generates electricity through a chemical conversion process, which differs from most other power sources reliant on combustion, and can use natural gas, biogas or hydrogen as fuel. Its SOFCs are deployed on-site where energy is consumed, reducing reliance on central power grid.
The company raised more than $1 billion in venture capital funding before going public in 2018, and has received significant government incentives that promote clean energy. By 2025, the company had installed about 1.4 gigawatts (GW) of Bloom Energy Server systems at over 1,000 locations across nine countries,[3] and developed low-emission, always-on, near zero-carbon green energy and carbon capture technologies for high-energy consumption industries.
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The firm was founded in 2001[4] as Ion America, then was renamed Bloom Energy in 2006.[5] Bloom traces its roots to the work of KR Sridhar to create a technology to convert Martian atmospheric gases to oxygen for propulsion and life support using a solid oxide fuel cell electrolyzer (SOEC),[6] while director of the Space Technologies Laboratory at the University of Arizona.[7] Sridhar and his team built an electrochemical cell for NASA that is capable of producing air and fuel from electricity generated by a solar panel.[8] Bloom shipped its first 5 KW (kilowatt) unit to the University of Tennessee, where two years of field trials conducted in three U.S. states validated the technology. The first 100 KW commercial units, ES-5000 Energy Servers,[6] were shipped to Google in July 2008.[9]
The company worked in secret for eight years before coming out of stealth mode in February 2010,[8] and introducing its Bloom Energy Server, or "Bloom Box", a fuel-cell technology that enables on-site carbon-neutral electricity generation.[5] Bloom Energy was featured on 60 Minutes,[10] supported by political figures[11] and named one of 26 "2010 Tech Pioneers" by the World Economic Forum.[12] The Bloom Box generator was also chosen among Time's "Best 50 Inventions of 2010".[8] The company raised $400 million in funding that year, and had 300 employees.[5] The San Francisco Chronicle later reported that Bloom had "a coming-out party packed with politicians and Silicon Valley elite".[4][13]
In 2011, the company also began selling electricity produced by Bloom Energy Servers, rather than selling the units themselves, underwriting manufacture of the fuel cells.[14][15][16] A federal subsidy for fuel cells expired in 2016,[17] and the California Self-Generation Incentive Program was discontinued the following year,[17][18] as the state focused its subsidies on batteries.[13]
Bloom was valued at $2.9 billion in 2011,[19][17] then producing about one Bloom Box per day,[20] until opening a factory in Newark, Delaware, in April 2012.[21] By 2013, it had raised $1.1 billion in funding,[22] which was followed by additional funding rounds, in 2014 and 2015.[22] Company revenues grew rapidly, though its development phase was unprofitable,[23] in some years losing more than $200 million.[4][16]
Federal subsidies that had expired in 2016 were restored in 2018.[17] Bloom Energy filed an IPO that July, stating that it did not expect to be profitable in the near future, and disclosing a legal settlement with some of its investors.[22][24][25] Later that year, Bloom moved headquarters from Sunnyvale to San Jose.[26] By 2020, shares had lost nearly 50% in value. Though not profitable in its first 19 years of operation, the company had raised over $1.7 billion in capital for its technology.[27]
In July 2019, Duke Energy corporation announced the intention of acquiring a portfolio of distributed fuel cell technology projects from Bloom Energy.[28][29]
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Bloom Energy produces solid oxide fuel cell power generators called Bloom Energy Servers that use natural gas or biogas as fuel.[17][30] According to The New York Times, solid oxide fuel cells are "considered the most efficient but most technologically challenging fuel-cell technology."[31] Instead of precious metals, Bloom Energy's fuel cells use wafers made from sand that are stained with proprietary ink.[30][31] As fuel passes over the sand wafers, it mixes with oxygen, creating a chemical reaction that produces electricity.[31][32] The chemical reaction takes place at about 800 degrees Celsius (1,500 degrees Fahrenheit).[5][32]
Bloom sells the power from the units for 5-15% less than buying power from the grid, rather than selling the units themselves.[4][33] The generators are normally used for large buildings, manufacturing facilities, or data centers to produce power on-site.[26][33]
The fuel cells are housed in metal cabinets.[16] Each one produces about 200 to 300 kilowatts of electricity.[4] As of 2018, Bloom had installed about 300 megawatts of units.[34] Data from the state of Delaware found that Bloom's fuel cells produce about 823 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour.[35] This is less than the ~1,000 pounds produced when power is taken from the electrical grid, but more than the 777 Bloom used to advertise without taking into consideration the declining efficiency of the appliances with age.[35] As of 2018 data, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reports coal producing 2,210 pounds of CO2 per megawatthour, and natural gas at 920 pounds per megawatthour.[36]
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