The Bloom Energy Server provides distributed power generation, allowing customers to efficiently create their own electricity onsite. The Silicon Valley-based company introduced its groundbreaking technology at an event hosted at eBay Inc headquarters, in the presence of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, retired General Colin Powell (a Bloom Energy board member), and several of its early customers.

Bloom Energy says that its patented solid oxide fuel cell technology is distinct in four primary ways. Fabricated using lower-cost materials, it provides unmatched efficiency in converting fuel to electricity, has the ability to run on a wide range of renewable or traditional fuels, and is more easily deployed and maintained.

Each Bloom Energy Server provides 100 kW of electric power in roughly the footprint of a car parking space. Each system generates enough power to meet the needs of approximately 100 average US homes, or a small office building. The modular architecture allows customers to start small, and add modules as their power requirements grow.

At the launch Bloom Energy also unveiled several major early customers, include Bank of America, Coca-Cola, Cox Enterprises, eBay, FedEx, Google, Staples, and Walmart. Most of these fuel cell installations are 400 or 500 kW in size, and power sizable facilities in California.

‘Just as cell phones circumvented landlines to proliferate telephony, Bloom Energy will enable the adoption of distributed power as a smarter, localized energy source,’ says Dr KR Sridhar, principal co-founder and CEO of Bloom Energy.

Sridhar continues: ‘Our customers are the cornerstone of that vision, and we are thrilled to be working with industry-leading companies to lower their energy costs, reduce their carbon footprint, improve their energy security, and showcase their commitment to a better future.’