Bloom Energy will soon be installing 30 MW-worth of Bloom Boxes in Delaware in what will be the company's largest project yet.
Delaware regulators just approved the plan that calls for a factory to be built for the fuel-cell boxes. State utility Delmarva Power will raise a large portion of the funds required to finance the project by adding a $1.34-per-month surcharge to its customers' bills. That surcharge will add up to about $100 million over the next 20 years.
The state is also offering $18 million in incentives and the project hopes to receive federal grants as well.
Bloom Energy has already found customers in Google, eBay, Adobe, AT&T and through pilot projects with utilities PG&E, Southern California Edison and Tennessee's EPB, but none of these projects come close to the Delaware deal that could grow to as much as 50 MW.
Beyond a cleaner source of energy, the project will bring Delaware 900 new jobs at the factory and $300 million in annual economic activity.
via Greentech Media
Subscribe to this comment's feed
written by David, October 21, 2011
-
- +0
-
-
written by DaveR, October 28, 2011
Bloom specs a box at 0.661 MMBtu of natural gas to produce 100 kWh. This comes to an operating efficiency of about 50%.
But modern combined cycle gas plants are now up to around 60% efficiency levels - so Bloom has some work to do.
The main benefit is that Bloom boxes are small and modular - kind of tough to site a CCGT plant next to your office building.
-
- +0
-
-
written by Richard Romfh, October 28, 2011
-
- +0
-
-
written by Jeannette, October 28, 2011
While many Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) do have a high heat byproduct, Bloom Boxes do not. They say this is what makes their system more efficient than other SOFC's (because they reuse that waste heat within the Bloom Box system) but it seems like that is also a missed opportunity.
-
- +0
-
-
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
OCT 19
"What happened to the $3000 fuel cell for residential homes? What fuel..."
View all Comments