FUEL CELL MAKER BLOOM ENERGY OPENS “GIGAFACTORY” IN CALIFORNIA

By Cormac O’Laoire

Bloom Energy has put online its first hydrogen “gigafactory” as the culmination a journey 20 years in the making. Founded in 2001, Bloom pioneered commercial solid oxide hydrogen electrolyzer cells (SOEC) and solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC). The company’s new 164,000 square foot facility in Fremont, California has the capacity to produce 1 gigawatt of fuel cells annually, and by also making electrolyzers tackles the emerging hydrogen economy from both the production and utilization sides.

The factory represented a $200 million investment and Bloom expects to hire more than 400 workers by year-end, bringing its total number of employees to almost 2,000.

Bloom’s SOFC can generated electricity using multiple fuel sources such as natural gas, biogas and of course hydrogen, which it says provides an advantage for resiliency applications. As Bloom’s CEO KR Sridhar pointed out “As Bloom’s power is generated on-site where power is consumed, we do not face the same challenges as traditional power plants, such as the maintenance of power lines.”

Source: Bloom Energy Celebrates Grand Opening of Fremont Multi-Gigawatt Factory, Adding Hundreds of New Clean Energy Jobs (Bloom Energy)