Bloom Energy Introduces Load Following Capability to Enable Customers and Utilities to Meet Variable Electricity Load and Demand
- Introduction of 'Be Flexible' offering for variable electricity load and demand.
- Promises up to 50% cost savings, 50% carbon reduction, and 5 times faster power ramp than legacy solutions.
- Targets utilities and end customers like AI data centers, EV charging stations, and commercial developments.
- Over 1 gigawatt of deployment showcasing Bloom Energy's market leadership in power generation.
- Addresses power shortages and fluctuations in supply and demand effectively.
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The announcement by Bloom Energy introduces a significant advancement in energy management technology, particularly for applications with high variability in electricity demand. The 'Be Flexible' solution's ability to offer up to 50% cost savings and 50% carbon reduction at reduced load is particularly noteworthy, as it suggests a potential to disrupt the current market for power generation solutions. This could lead to a shift in investment towards more agile and sustainable energy sources, impacting companies that are heavily invested in traditional power generation technologies.
The rapid power ramp capability, being more than five times faster than legacy solutions, indicates a technological edge that could make Bloom's offering attractive to sectors with dynamic power needs, such as AI data centers and EV charging stations. This feature could improve operational efficiency and reduce the risk of power disruptions, which are critical factors for these industries. The energy sector's stakeholders, including utility companies and end-users, may see immediate benefits in operational cost reductions and enhanced reliability.
However, the long-term impact will depend on the scalability of the technology and its integration with existing infrastructure. The transition to renewable energy sources is already underway and Bloom's technology could accelerate this shift, but it will require substantial capital investment and regulatory support. The market's response to this innovation will be a key determinant of its success.
The environmental implications of Bloom Energy's 'Be Flexible' offering are profound. The ability to reduce carbon emissions by up to 50% at reduced load positions Bloom's solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology as a leader in sustainable power generation. This aligns with global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and transition to cleaner energy sources.
Furthermore, the solution's minimal impact on emissions during load fluctuation is a significant advantage over traditional gas turbines, which typically experience increased emissions at part loads. The electrochemical process utilized by Bloom's SOFC technology, which emits no NOx or SOx particulates, represents a substantial environmental benefit. This could influence policy and regulatory discussions, potentially leading to incentives for adopting such clean technologies.
It is also important to consider the sustainability of the fuel sources used by the Energy Server. While natural gas is a common input, the technology's compatibility with biogas and hydrogen suggests a pathway to even lower emissions, depending on the fuel mix. As the hydrogen economy develops, Bloom's technology could become an integral component of a zero-emission energy landscape.
The technical aspects of Bloom Energy's 'Be Flexible' offering represent a leap forward in power generation technology. The solid state architecture of the Energy Server allows for a quick response to electricity load changes, which is crucial for maintaining uninterrupted power supply in high-demand scenarios. The whitepaper's demonstration of the server's ability to follow an electricity load increase from 40 to 100 percent almost instantaneously is a testament to the innovation's potential impact on energy resilience.
The direct conversion of fuel to electricity, bypassing traditional mechanical inertia, not only enhances ramp-to-power speed but also maintains efficiency across load variations. This could set a new standard for distributed baseload power generation, challenging incumbent technologies such as diesel generators and gas turbines which are less efficient and slower to respond.
As industries increasingly rely on digital infrastructure, such as AI data centers, the demand for reliable and responsive power sources will escalate. Bloom's ability to meet this demand could position it as a preferred partner for technology companies seeking to mitigate the risk of costly power disruptions.
“Be Flexible™” offering provides much-needed economical and sustainable solution for variable electricity load and demand with up to
“Be Flexible” can solve pain points for utilities for front-of-the-meter applications and for end customers such as commercial, AI data centers and EV charging stations for behind-the-meter applications.
To address this growing problem, Bloom Energy (NYSE:BE), a world leader in fuel cell electricity production, today announced a new flexible load following solution for its Energy Server® platform. This solution rapidly handles fluctuations in supply and demand for heavy power consumers, ensuring them power certainty and quality while delivering significant cost savings.
The new “Be Flexible” offering can operate on either side of the meter, providing both utilities and end customers with an on-demand solution. With the “Be Flexible” offering utilities are better able to deal with disparities between their peak and non-peak demands due to its dispatchable nature. Customers behind the meter are better able to accommodate the variability of their loads.
With more than 1 gigawatt of deployment, Bloom is a market leader for distributed baseload, always-on power generation with its proven solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology and groundbreaking Energy Server platform. With this new load following capability Bloom has now extended its value to new applications where the ability to ramp power output up or down quickly is required to address a customer’s variable load and demand throughout the day.
“We continue to innovate and solve the unique challenges created by the energy transition and the AI revolution,” said KR Sridhar, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Bloom Energy. “The Be Flexible offering provides a solution to customers that is technically, economically, and environmentally superior to legacy alternatives such as diesel generators and gas turbines. This solution can play a critical role in keeping the lights on when intermittent renewables are not powering the grid and the grid is unable to meet customer demand – a situation which is becoming more common in states with high renewables penetration such as
“I have been in the power generation business for more than a decade and selling gas turbines for the past six years. Providing utilities with a significantly cleaner dispatchable source of electricity with Be Flexible, which ramps up and down significantly more than turbines, reciprocating engines and other alternatives, will enable them to add more renewable electricity in the mix,” said Aman Joshi who recently joined Bloom Energy as the Chief Commercial Officer.
“The rapid response time of ‘Be Flexible,’ due to its solid state architecture, is immensely important when we consider the intense energy fluctuating demands like those from AI data centers, which we are increasingly dependent on,” said Peter Gross, a leading expert on data centers and advisor to Bloom Energy. “Data center power demands can nowadays easily jump from 50 percent to 100 percent in a matter of seconds. A power source that can’t deliver in such a short time will trip the entire site’s power, causing costly disruptions.”
In a whitepaper released in conjunction with the announcement, the new Be Flexible Energy Server is shown to follow an electricity load increase from 40 to 100 percent almost instantaneously. The Energy Servers can be configured in standalone microgrids or support grid operators during times of unstable supply and high demand. As the demand for flexible, responsive and sustainable power generation solutions grows, SOFC technology has the capacity to meet electricity demands for customers such as utilities, retail, AI data centers and EV chargers.
As discussed in the white paper, the key advantages of the Be Flexible offering for the Energy Server compared to legacy standalone power generation solutions include the following:
- Quick Ramp-to-Power: The Bloom Energy Server generates electricity through the direct conversion of fuels like natural gas, biogas or hydrogen, eliminating multiple energy conversion processes and the mechanical inertia of combustion-based solutions such as turbines. This enables them to reach the target power more than five times faster than other power generation technology.
- Cost Advantages: Compared to gas turbines where the efficiency dramatically reduces at lower loads compared to full load, load fluctuation has minimal impact on the efficiency of Bloom’s Energy Server. This provides as much as a 50 percent cost advantage depending on the application.
- Sustainability: CO2 emissions from Bloom’s Energy Server are significantly lower (up to 50 percent at part load) and minimally impacted by load fluctuation compared to gas turbines. They require practically no water during operation and emit no NOx or SOx particulates because they operate through electrochemical, non-combustion processes.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or our future financial or operating performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “should,” “will” and “would” or the negative of these words or similar terms or expressions that concern Bloom’s expectations, strategy, priorities, plans or intentions. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, Bloom’s expectations regarding the cost savings versus the grid, including Bloom’s ability to meet the current or future electricity demands. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are only predictions and may differ materially from actual future events or results due to a variety of factors including, but not limited to: performance of load following capability at scale and other risks and uncertainties detailed in Bloom’s SEC filings from time to time. More information on potential factors that may impact Bloom’s business are set forth in Bloom’s periodic reports filed with the SEC, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 as filed with the SEC on February 21, 2023 and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2023, June 30, 2023, and September 30, 2023, as filed with the SEC on May 9, 2023, August 3, 2023, and November 8, 2023, respectively, as well as subsequent reports filed with or furnished to the SEC from time to time. These reports are available on Bloom’s website at www.bloomenergy.com and the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Bloom assumes no obligation to, and does not currently intend to, update any such forward-looking statements.
About Bloom Energy
Bloom Energy empowers businesses and communities to responsibly take charge of their energy. The company’s leading solid oxide platform for distributed generation of electricity and hydrogen is changing the future of energy. Fortune 100 companies around the world turn to Bloom Energy as a trusted partner to deliver lower carbon energy today and a net-zero future. For more information, visit www.bloomenergy.com.
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Media Relations:
Amanda Song
press@bloomenergy.com
Source: Bloom Energy
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