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Mounting local opposition to data center construction presents an opening for Bloom Energy Corp., according to its chief executive officer, who pitches its fuel cells as cleaner and quieter than conventional power-generating systems.
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“Rationally, our deployment should not be a community issue,” Chief Executive Officer KR Sridhar said in an interview with Bloomberg News in San Francisco. “It’s a business opportunity right now because nobody else is community friendly.”
Bloom’s shares have risen by more than 200% since the start of the year on the back of investor enthusiasm over demand for its technology to power data centers. Its fuel cells generate electricity from natural gas through a chemical reaction, rather than burning the fuel. The company says they require little water and generate less air pollution and noise compared to gas turbines.
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Sridhar views those as key advantages making the systems popular with data center developers facing increasing hostility from local residents over their negative environmental and economic impact.
“The national backlash is very real. You’re seeing local communities come and push back a lot,” Sridhar said. “Which of us wants a power plant in our backyard?”
He pointed to two recent deals with companies that are opting for Bloom equipment, in part because of the environmental advantages.
One of San Jose, California-based Bloom’s largest projects is in New Mexico, where it’s supplying 2.5 gigawatts of capacity to power an Oracle Corp. data center.
Initially, Oracle planned to power the campus — dubbed Project Jupiter — with more traditional gas turbines from Siemens Energy AG. The project met intense protests from locals largely concerned about environmental impacts, and the software company announced in April that it would power the site with Bloom systems.
Dutch-owned AI cloud provider Nebius Group NV. also opted to swap plans for gas turbines for Bloom’s technology, Sridhar said. Nebius said in May it had selected Bloom due to its fast delivery time and “clean, virtually non-polluting technology.”
Bloom has spent time in New Mexico recently, Sridhar said, meeting with locals and explaining its technology. And he said some people have been won over, including a local newspaper that had initially opposed the Oracle project.
Still, not everyone can be convinced. “Nothing is NIMBY-proof,” he said, “because NIMBY-ism is not rational.”
— With assistance from Mark Chediak
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