EBay to build non-utility fuel cell installation

PanARMENIAN.Net - EBay is continuing its green business initiatives by building the next phase of the company's data center primarily using renewable energy, PC Magazine reports.

In partnership with Bloom Energy, eBay will build the country's largest non-utility fuel cell installation. Though renewable energy typically supplements an electric grid, eBay is building the energy source into its core, incorporating 30 Bloom Energy servers into the new center's architecture.

"We believe the future of commerce can be greener," eBay president and CEO John Donahoe said in a statement.

The six-megawatt Bloom installation is being designed and engineered as part of eBay's expanded data center in Utah, and will be installed a few hundred feet from the building. Expected to be fully functional by mid-2013, each of the 30 energy servers will generate 1.75 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually, a press release said.

Using Bloom fuel cells, which generate on-site power 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, eBay can replace large and expensive backup generators, as well as rarely used backup batteries. The fuel cells, which take fuel like natural gas or bio-gas and combine it with oxygen and chemicals to produce electricity, will be installed in a way that the company hopes will eliminate the chance of utility grid blackouts.

The fuel-cell-powered facility's cost has not been disclosed, but the company said that the project will allow the reallocation of investment dollars, especially in the removal of generators.