The Bloom Energy Server is an advanced, distributed power generation system that provides always-on primary power. Learn how our solid oxide fuel cells convert fuel to electricity, without combustion, to deliver reliable, resilient, clean and affordable energy.
Video Synopsis
How a Bloom Energy Server Works
Video Length: 2:50
Transcript
Narrator:
As the demand for reliable clean electricity grows, we’re faced with challenges such as an aging grid infrastructure, natural disasters, and rising electricity costs. Bloom’s energy servers convert fuel into electricity, through an electrochemical process without combustion, at the highest efficiency of any power solution available in the world today. Designed for modularity, similar to a building block, any number of our systems can be clustered together in various configurations to form solutions from hundreds of kilowatts to tens of megawatts.
Solid oxide fuel cells consist of three parts, an electrolyte, an anode electrode, and a cathode electrode. An electrolyte is what the electrical ions move through in a fuel cell. For a solid oxide fuel cell, the electrolyte is a solid ceramic material. The anode and cathode are made from special inks that coat the electrolyte. Unlike other types of fuel cells, no precious metals, corrosive acids, or molten materials are required.
Next, an electrochemical reaction converts fuel and air into electricity without combustion, operating at high temperature, warmed air enters the cathode side of the fuel cell. Meanwhile, steam mixes with fuel entering the anode side to produce reformed fuel. As the reformed fuel crosses the anode, it attracts oxygen ions from the cathode.
The oxygen ions combined with the reformed fuel to produce electricity, water, and small amounts of carbon dioxide. The water gets recycled to produce the steam needed to reform the fuel. The process also generates the heat required to keep the fuel cell warm and drive the reforming reaction process. So long as fuel and air are added, the process continues producing clean, reliable, affordable energy.
Our energy server is a stationary power generation platform built for the digital age and capable of delivering highly reliable, uninterrupted, 24/7, always-on power that is also clean and sustainable. Among the most efficient energy generators on the planet, our platform dramatically reduces electricity costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Some of the largest companies in the world trust bloom energy to provide their businesses with clean, reliable, and resilient energy.