Greentech Lead America: Telecom services provider
AT&T has announced a planned additional 9.6 MW of fuel cell installations
in California and Connecticut from clean energy provider Bloom Energy.
The new installations will make AT&T Bloom Energy’s
largest non-utility customer. In July 2011, AT&T announced an
initial contract with Bloom Energy to deploy 7.5 MW of “Bloom
Boxes” at 11 AT&T sites in California including data
centers.
“AT&T continues to be on the forefront of energy
management and understands the need to find innovative ways to power the next
generation,” said KR Sridhar, CEO of Bloom Energy. “The investment
they are making now not only means they will have control on their own energy
destiny, but will also help ensure a brighter and more energy rich future for
all.”
With today’s announcement, AT&T will now have 17.1 MW
of Bloom Energy Servers helping to power 28 AT&T sites
in California and Connecticut. Once fully operational, all of
AT&T’s Bloom Box installations are expected to produce more than 149
million kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity annually, enough to power more than
13,680 homes per year.
Bloom Boxes contain stacked fuel cells that convert
air and natural gas into electricity through a clean electrochemical
process. Use of this power reduces carbon emissions by approximately 50
percent compared to the grid and virtually eliminates all SOx, NOx, and other
harmful smog forming particulate emissions.
“A key differentiator for fuel cells compared to
other forms of alternative power is that fuel cell electricity production is
virtually constant,” said John Schinter, AT&T’s senior energy
director. “They provide steady recurring electricity production at a
relatively predictable cost, replacing the traditional electricity bill, which
can be volatile.”