Bloom Energy Server
The Bloom Energy Server (the Bloom
Box) is a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) made by Bloom
Energy, of Sunnyvale, California, that can use a wide
variety of inputs (including liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons[1]
produced from biological sources) to generate electricity
on the site where it will be used.[2][3]
It can withstand temperatures of up to 1,800 °F (980 °C), that would
cause many other fuel cells to break down or require maintenance.[4]
According to the company, a single cell (one
100 mm × 100 mm metal alloy plate between two ceramic
layers) generates 25 watts.[5]
Bloom stated that two hundred
servers have been deployed in California for corporations including eBay,
Google, Yahoo, and Wal-Mart.[6]
Technology
The Bloom Energy Server uses thin
white ceramic plates (100 × 100 mm)[7]
that are made from components found in beach sand. Each plate is coated with a green nickel oxide-based ink on one side, forming
the anode, and another black (probably Lanthanum strontium manganite) ink on
the cathode side.[8][9]
According to the San Jose Mercury News, "Bloom's
secret technology apparently lies in the proprietary green ink that acts as the
anode and the black ink that acts as the cathode..." but in fact these
materials are widely known in the field of SOFCs. Wired reported that
the secret ingredient may be yttria-stabilized zirconia based upon US patent
that was granted to Bloom in 2009; but this material is also one of the most
common electrolyte
materials in the field.[10]
US
patent application 20080261099, assigned to Bloom Energy Corporation, says
that the "electrolyte includes yttria stabilized zirconia and a scandia-stabilized
zirconia,
such as a scandia ceria stabilized zirconia". ScSZ has a higher
conductivity than YSZ
at lower temperatures, which provides greater efficiency and higher reliability
when used as an electrolyte. Scandia is scandium
oxide (Sc
2O
3) which is a transition metal oxide that costs between US$1,400 and US$2,000 per kilogram in 99.9% pure form. Current annual world wide production of scandium is less than 2,000 kilograms. Most of the 5,000 kilograms used annually is sourced from Soviet era stockpiles.
2O
3) which is a transition metal oxide that costs between US$1,400 and US$2,000 per kilogram in 99.9% pure form. Current annual world wide production of scandium is less than 2,000 kilograms. Most of the 5,000 kilograms used annually is sourced from Soviet era stockpiles.
To save money, the Bloom Energy
Server uses inexpensive metal alloy plates for electric conductance between the two ceramic fast ion conductor plates. In competing lower
temperature fuel cells, platinum is required at the cathode.[8]
Bloom Energy
Bloom
Energy
|
|
Predecessor
|
Ion America
|
Founded
|
2002
|
Founder
|
K. R.
Sridhar C.E.O , John Finn, Matthias Gottmann, James McElroy, Dien Nguyen
|
Headquarters
|
|
Key people
|
K. R.
Sridhar (founder, CEO)
|
Products
|
regenerative solid oxide fuel cells
|
85 Million loss (2008)[11]
|
|
Owner
|
Kleiner
Perkins (among others)
|
Website
|
Bloom Energy is the company that develops, builds, and installs Bloom
Energy Servers.[11]
The company, started in 2002 by CEO K.R.
Sridhar,[11]
is one of 26 named a 2010 Tech Pioneer by the World Economic Forum.[12]
History
In October 2001, CEO K.R Sridhar met
with John
Doerr from the venture capital firm Kleiner
Perkins.[13]
Sridhar asked for more than $100 million to start the company. Bloom Energy
eventually received $400 million of start-up funding from venture capitalists, including Kleiner
Perkins[8]
and Vinod
Khosla.[14]
The company, originally called Ion
America, was renamed Bloom Energy in 2006.[15]
Sridhar credited his nine-year-old
son for the name, saying that his son believed jobs, lives, environment, and
children would bloom.[16]
Michael R. Bloomberg appeared at the launch by
video link.[17]
Bloomberg's business news network covered the event, but attributed every
statement to "Bloom Energy".[18]
The CEO gave a media interview (to Fortune
Magazine) for the first time in 2010, eight years after founding the
company, because of pressure from his customers.[11]
A few days later he allowed Lesley Stahl of the CBS News
program 60
Minutes to see the factory.[19]
On February 24, 2010, the company held its first press conference.[15]
Bloom Energy's well-known customers
include Walmart,
Staples,
AT&T, Adobe,
CocaCola, Ebay, Google, Bank
of America, FedEx,
Life Technologies,[20]
Safeway,
and Yahoo.[21]
In July 2014, the company announced
a "long-term strategic partnership" with Exelon Corporation to finance "fuel cell
projects at 75 commercial facilities in California, Connecticut, New Jersey and
New York."[22]
Costs
Installation
The current cost of each hand-made
100 kW Bloom Energy Server is $700,000–800,000. In 2010, the company
announced plans for a smaller, home sized Bloom server priced under $3,000.[8]
Bloom estimated the size of a home-sized server at 1 kW, although others
recommended 5 kW.[23]
The capital
cost is $7–8 per watt.[24]
According to the New York Times
(Green Blog), in early 2011 "... Bloom Energy ... unveiled a service to
allow customers to buy the electricity generated by its fuel cells without
incurring the capital costs of purchasing the six-figure devices.... Under the
Bloom Electrons service, customers sign 10-year contracts to purchase the
electricity generated by Bloom Energy Servers while the company retains
ownership of the fuel cells and responsibility for their maintenance.... 'We’re
able to tell customers, ‘You don’t have to put any money up front, you pay only
for the electrons you use and it’s good for your pocketbook and good for
planet,’ ' [CEO K.R. Sridhar] said."[25]
Usage
On 24 February 2010, Sridhar claimed
that his devices were making electricity for $0.08–.10/kWh using natural gas,
cheaper than today's electricity prices in some parts of the United States,
such as California.[26][27]
Twenty percent of the cost savings depend upon avoiding transfer losses that
result from energy grid use.[23]
Bloom Energy claimed to be
developing power purchase agreements to sell
electricity produced by the boxes, rather than selling the boxes themselves, in
order to address customers' fears about box maintenance, reliability, and
servicing costs.[19]
As of 2010, 15% of the power
consumed by eBay was generated via the use of Bloom Energy Servers. At the
time, after factoring in tax incentives which effectively halved the initial
cost, eBay expected a three-year payback period based on the then $0.14/kWh
cost of commercial electricity in California.[28]
Installations
The company says that its first 100-kW Bloom Energy
Servers were shipped to Google in July 2008.[29]
Four such servers were installed at Google's headquarters, which became Bloom
Energy's first customer.[19]
Another installation of five boxes[1]
produces up to 500 kW at eBay headquarters California.[19]
Bloom Energy stated that their customers include Staples (300 kW – December 2008),[30]
Walmart
(800 kW – January 2010),[31]
FedEx
(500 kW),[32]
The Coca-Cola Company (500 kW)[33]
and Bank of America (500 kW).[34][35]
Each of these installations were located in California.
A 1-megawatt Bloom Box fuel cell
system installed at Yahoo
headquarters in Sunnyvale, California in 2014 is designed to
"power one-third of the electricity to the buildings on Yahoo’s
campus."[21]
Portable
units
Sridhar announced plans to install
Bloom Energy Servers in third world nations.[17]
Ex-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, Colin Powell, now a Bloom Energy board member, said
the Bloom Energy generators could be useful to the military because they are
lighter, more efficient, and generate less heat than traditional generators.[36]
Feasibility
The chemical reaction used to create
energy in Bloom Energy products
Bloom Energy Server technology is
based upon stacking small fuel cells which operate in concert.[7][15]
Bloom Energy's approach of stacking fuel cells that enable individual plates to
expand and contract at the same rate at high temperatures.[7]
However, other solid oxide fuel cell producers have solved
the problem of different expansion rates of cells in the past.[9]
Scott Samuelsen of the University of California, Irvine
National Fuel Cell Research Center questioned the operational life of Bloom
Servers. "At this point, Bloom has excellent potential, but they have yet
to demonstrate that they've met the bars of reliability."[15]
Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory expert Michael Tucker claimed, "Because they operate at
high temperatures, they can accept other fuels like natural gas and methane,
and that's an enormous advantage... The disadvantage is that they can shatter
as they are heating or cooling."[15]
Venture capitalist John Doerr
asserted that the Bloom Energy Server is cheaper and cleaner than the grid.[1][37]
An expert at Gerson Lehrman Group wrote that, given today's
electricity transmission losses of about 7% and utility-size gas-fired power
stations efficiency of 33–48%, the Bloom Energy Server is up to twice as
efficient as a gas-fired power station.[2]
Fortune stated that "Bloom has still
not released numbers about how much the Bloom Box costs to operate per kilowatt
hour" and estimates that natural gas rather than bio-gas will be its
primary fuel source.[38]
AP reporter Jonathan Fahey in Forbes wrote: "Are we really falling for this again?
Every clean tech company on the planet says it can produce clean energy
cheaply, yet not a single one can. Government subsidies or mandates keep the
entire worldwide industry afloat. Hand it to Bloom, the company has managed to
tap into the hype machine like no other clean tech company in memory." [39]
Efficiency
Bloom claims a conversion efficiency
of around 50%.[40]
A modern combined cycle gas turbine power plant (CCGT) can
reach 60% overall efficiency, using a multi-step process. Sridhar stated that
Bloom's products convert chemical energy to electrical energy in one step, are
more fuel efficient than current gas-fired power stations and reduce
transmission/distribution losses by producing power where it is used.[41]
Each Bloom Energy Server ES5700 is
said to provide 200 kW of power, similar to the baseload needs of 160
average homes or one office building.[42]
The average monthly electricity consumption for a U.S. residential utility
customer in 2012 was 903 kWh per month (or 1.24 kW mean load).[43]
Sridhar said the boxes have a 10
year life span,[27]
although that could include replacing the cells during that period. The CEO of
eBay says Bloom Energy Servers have saved the company $100,000 in electricity
bills since they were installed in mid-2009,[8]
Fortune Magazine contributor Paul Keegan calls that figure "meaningless
without the details to see how he got there".[38]
Long-term
business case
Assuming a 50% future cost
reduction, one could argue that the best case scenario for the 200 kW unit
would be a capital (installed) cost comparable to today's 100 kW units,
i.e., around $800,000. Using average electricity ($0.10/kWh) and natural gas
($3/MMBtu) prices and assuming a 6% per year maintenance/operating cost apart
from fuel, the break-even period for the device comes to over 8 years, based on
published performance numbers.[44]
Parameter
Name
|
Value
|
Unit
/ description
|
Fuel (natural gas) flow rate for
200 kW Bloom Energy Server
|
1.32
|
MMBtu/hr
|
Fuel energy in rate in kW (1
MMBTU/hr CH4 = 293 kW)
|
386.76
|
kW
|
Fuel cost
|
$3.96
|
per hour
|
Electric output rate
|
200
|
kW
|
System efficiency natural gas
-> electricity
|
52%
|
percent conversion of natural gas
energy to electrical energy
|
Electricity cost
|
$0.10
|
per kWh
|
Electricity produced revenue
|
$20.00
|
per hour
|
CO2 produced
|
773
|
lb/MWh
|
Run cost savings per bloom box
(electricity revenue less fuel cost)
|
$16.04
|
per hour
|
Cost savings per year assuming
24X7 full load operation
|
$140,510.40
|
per year
|
Capital cost (estimated minimum
cost after projected reductions)
|
$800,000.00
|
for each 200 kW unit
|
Annual maintenance / operation
cost
|
6%
|
as a fraction of capital cost, per
year
|
Cost savings after maintenance
costs
|
$92,510.40
|
per year
|
Break even period
|
8.6
|
years
|
These numbers mean that the total
lifetime of these systems would need to exceed 15–20 years to make an argument
for a viable long-term business case without subsidies. The analysis might be
somewhat different if the systems are used mainly for peak (power) shaving when
electricity costs can exceed $0.15/kWh. However, the intermittent nature of
such peak periods would likely reduce the overall impact on the estimated
break-even period using average cost figures for electricity and natural gas. A
reliable bio-derived source of fuel (bio-gas) would also tip the argument in a
favorable direction, however such sources are not typically located near
customer sites.[citation needed]
Competition
A Gerson Lehrman Group analyst wrote that GE dismantled its fuel cell
group five years ago and Siemens almost dismantled theirs.[2]
GE Power Conversion is researching a SOFC power
hybrid.[45]
United Technologies is the only large conglomerate that has competitive fuel cell
technology.[2]
Toshiba has
technology to provide energy for a small device, not a neighborhood.[2]
Sprint
owns 15 patents on hydrogen fuel cells and is using 250 fuel cells to provide
backup power for its operations. Sprint has been using fuel cell power since
2005. In 2009, Sprint's fuel cell program received a grant of $7.3 million from
the United States Department of Energy
to expand the hydrogen capacity of its fuel cell tanks from providing up to 15
hours of backup power, to 72 hours.[46]
Sprint partnered with ReliOn and Altergy for fuel cell manufacture,
and with Air Products as a hydrogen supplier. German fuel cell
firm P21 has been working on similar projects to supply backup power for
cellular operations.[47]
United Technologies makes fuel cells costing
$4,500 per kilowatt.
In October 2009, the Department of
Energy awarded nearly USD $25 million in grants for research and development of
solar fuels.[10][48]
In October 2012, the US government
awarded Bloom Energy $70,710,959 under its section 1603 energy awards program.[49]
A
competitor claimed the Bloom Box uses a "thick electrolyte" that
requires 900 °C temperatures to overcome electrical resistance. Topsoe Fuel Cell[50]
and Ceres Power instead employ
"thick anode" technology that allows operation at cooler temperature.
Ceres has a four-year program to install 37,500 units in the homes of customers
of the UK's British
Gas.[51]
Ballard
Power's comparably scaled products are based on proton exchange membrane fuel cells.
Ballard's 150 kW units are intended for mobile applications such as
municipal buses,[52]
while their larger 1 MW stationary systems are configured from banks of
11 kW building blocks.[53]
Another competitor in Europe and
Australia is Ceramic Fuel Cells. It claims an efficiency of
60% for the power-only units; these fuel cells are based on technology spun off
from Australia's CSIRO.[54]
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