Slash Lane
Up to 50 Bloom Boxes, each capable of supplying 100 killowatts of power, would meet Apple's advertised 5-megawatt capacity at the new fuel cell farm. Citing a few sources, GigaOm reported on Friday that Bloom Energy and its Bloom Boxes are in fact planned to be the power source at the forthcoming plant.
The new fuel cell farm is set to run on biogas, or methane from organic waste, as well as oxygen. Apple revealed last month that its Maiden, N.C., data center will feature the largest nonutility fuel cell installation in the U.S.
The fuel cell farm will provide more than 40 million kWh of 24x7 baseload renewable energy annually. When paired with the 20-megawatt solar farm Apple is also building, the data center will be the largest in its class with LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
Friday's report also claimed that beyond Apple's green data center in North Carolina, the company has also allegedly partnered with Bloom for "a few" fuel cells that are found on the company's Cupertino, Calif. campus.
The rumored partnership with Bloom is also seen as likely because the company is one of only a few that would even be capable of building such a large array of fuel cells. Bloom has previously secured a deal to build a 30-megawatt fuel cell farm with 300 Bloom Boxes in Delaware.
Apple first announced plans to build its massive $1 billion server farm in Maiden in 2009. The facility opened last spring, and it helps to power Apple's online operations, including the iCloud umbrella of Web applications and services, and the iTunes Store that serves up applications, music, movies, books and more.
Amber Neely
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
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28 Comments
Does anyone know what sorts of data is being hosted or served from that datacenter?
Seems odd that it would be Bloom. They seem to be looking at installations closer to 2MW peak from what I can tell. Also didn't think they ran on swamp gas... but I guess it would just impact efficiency.
I'm not sure I get the picture. If the fuel cells are going to run on methane from organic waste, and the fuel cells are to be located at the data center, does that mean there is (or is going to be) a garbage dump or pig shit lake near the data center? or do they capture the methane somewhere else and transport it to the fuel cells? someone with knowledge please explain.
Seems odd that it would be Bloom. They seem to be looking at installations closer to 2MW peak from what I can tell. Also didn't think they ran on swamp gas... but I guess it would just impact efficiency.
I have heard of municipalities powering their sewage treatment plants with fuel cells running on the gases released from the chemical reactions of their treatment tanks. I don't understand yet how this is applicable to a data center.
Why wouldn't you use 2 FuelCell Energy 3000's from the leader in FuelCell technology?
DFC3000 (2.8 MW)
FuelCell Energy?s DFC3000® system is the largest of the DFC® power plant fleet, capable of providing high-quality baseload power up to 2.8 MW with 47% electrical efficiency. The power plant consists of six matched modular skids, and due to its innovative design, can be modified depending on the power requirements of the facility.