Bloom Energy and telecom/internet company SoftBank established their 50:50 joint venture in July. This initial deployment is a 200 kW solid oxide fuel cell Bloom Energy Server™, at SoftBank’s M-Tower facility in Fukuoka City, on the southern island of Kyushu.
Bloom Energy Japan was created to provide a reliable electricity alternative that is safe, clean, affordable, compact, and provides electricity 24/7 using highly efficient solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology. It represents a new path for power generation in Japan, to address the country’s urgent need for clean, reliable, and affordable electricity as it transitions away from nuclear power.
‘I am delighted that we have installed our first Bloom Energy Server in Japan,’ says Masayoshi Son, SoftBank Group Representative. ‘I believe that Bloom’s clean, reliable, and safe onsite electricity will become one of the solutions for businesses in the future, and this installation is a significant milestone for SoftBank to further drive the adoption of innovative, clean energy.’
Bloom Energy has installed its 100 and 200 kW SOFC Energy Servers for various blue-chip clients in the company’s home market in the US, but the Japanese joint venture marks a major international expansion. The flexible, modular Bloom Energy Server – launched in the US in early 2010 – can run on natural gas and biogas, and provides excellent efficiency.
‘Japanese businesses now have an alternative energy solution that gives them control over their energy destiny,’ says KR Sridhar, Principal Co-Founder and CEO of Bloom Energy. ‘This project signifies not only an exciting start for our partnership with SoftBank in Japan, but also a first step toward our mission to provide clean, reliable, and affordable energy to everyone in the world.’
Bloom Energy has more than 100 MW of Bloom Energy Servers installed in the US, including a 1 MW fuel cell system on the Torrance, California campus of American Honda Motor Co. Earlier this year, Bloom opened a large manufacturing centre in Newark, Delaware and completed a number of mission-critical projects, including a 6 MW deployment at an eBay data centre in Utah.