Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) Technology To Provide Cleaner, More Reliable, and More Affordable Energy Source To Public Ice Facility
San Jose, CA – April 12, 2011 — San Jose Arena Management, the operator of the San Jose City-owned Sharks Ice at San Jose public ice facility, announced today plans to install Bloom Energy Servers™ at the ice facility. Installation of these energy servers will provide a cleaner, more reliable and more affordable energy source to power the ice complex which includes four NHL-sized ice rinks, administrative offices, a merchandise and equipment store, as well as Stanley’s Sports Bar and Restaurant. The installation of these energy servers is scheduled to be completed by January of 2012
By installing the Bloom Energy Servers™, Sharks Ice at San Jose will be using a cheaper and cleaner electricity to power a facility which currently generates an electrical energy bill of more than $65,000 per month largely due to the 24-hour a day, seven days per week refrigeration requirement. The Bloom boxes (500kWs), which are utilized by other corporations throughout San Jose and the Silicon Valley, will replace about 85% of the electrical utility power at Sharks Ice and due to the efficiency of the Bloom box, Sharks Ice will reduce its carbon footprint by 30% over the course of the next 10 years.
By unanimously electing to approve this project, the San Jose City Council moved to advance the City’s goals found in the Green Vision, Economic Development Strategy, and Climate Action Plan. The City will fund the purchase and installation of the Fuel Energy Servers™ with $2-million from the Ice Centre Revenue Fund, which is dedicated to paying for operating expenses, maintenance and improvements at the facility.
“We are pleased to be working closely with the City of San Jose and an innovative company like Bloom Energy to install an environmentally-friendly resource that will provide electricity to our facility,” said General Manger of Sharks Ice at San Jose Jon Gustafson. “Utilizing the Bloom Energy Servers will not only allow Sharks Ice to continue to provide a state-of-the-art public ice facility for our patrons but will allow for reducing its carbon footprint which will benefit the entire community.”
“This is a great example of how we can make a capital investment to reduce long-term operating costs,” said San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed. “Adoption of this cutting-edge technology at Sharks Ice also supports our region’s growing clean tech industry and brings us closer to achieving our Green Vision goals.”
“We are thrilled to have San Jose Arena Management and Sharks Ice as one of our customers,” said Bill Thayer, Executive VP of Sales and Service for Bloom Energy. “They are an outstanding example of an innovative company that understands that economic viability and environmental responsibility do not have to be mutually exclusive.”
About Sharks Ice at San Jose
Sharks Ice at San Jose is located at 1500 S. Tenth Street in San Jose, California, and is the largest rink facility west of the Mississippi and is one of only 10 rink facilities in the United States that currently operates at least four NHL-sized ice rinks.
The nearly 170,000 square-feet facility accommodates ice hockey, figure skating, broomball, curling, speed skating, ice dancing, as well as public skating. Sharks Ice is the official practice facility of the NHL’s San Jose Sharks. Sharks Ice at San Jose, along with Sharks Ice at Fremont, currently holds the largest number of Adult USA Hockey participants (3,989) of any facility in the nation.
Each year, Sharks Ice at San Jose hosts numerous youth and adult hockey tournaments on both a national and international scale. By hosting these tournaments, Sharks Ice provides the City with both national and international exposure while simultaneously filling more than 10,000 hotel rooms each year.
About San Jose’s Green Vision
On October 7, 2007, Mayor Chuck Reed introduced San Jose’s Green Vision, which sets 10 ambitious goals for environmental protection and economic development. This 15-year plan envisions: creating 25,000 Clean Tech jobs; building or retrofitting 50 million square feet of green buildings; installing 100,000 solar roofs; reducing per capita electricity use by half; becoming a zero waste city; recycling and reusing 100 percent of the city’s water; and moving to 100 percent renewable energy. For more information, visit www.sanjoseca.gov/greenvision/.
About The City Of San Jose
From its founding in 1777 as California’s first city, San Jose has been a leader, driven by its spirit of innovation. Today, San Jose stands as the largest city in Northern California and the Capital of Silicon Valley—the world’s leading center of innovation. The city, the 10th largest in the U.S., is committed to remaining a top-ranked place to do business, to work and to live. For more information, visit, www.sanjoseca.gov.
About Bloom Energy
Bloom Energy is a provider of breakthrough solid oxide fuel cell technology that generates clean, highly-efficient power onsite from virtually any fuel source. Bloom Energy’s mission is to make clean, reliable energy affordable for everyone in the world. The Bloom Energy Server is currently producing power for several Fortune 500 companies. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA. For more information, visit BloomEnergy.com.