AT&T Deploys More Fuel Cells in its Sites

Published on: 2nd Oct 2012

­USA based AT&T has ordered an additional 9.6 MW of fuel cell power 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. 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 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," explained 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."

 

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