Centrica looks to Delta for SOFC systems for European data centres and industry

UK energy firm Centrica is teaming up with Taiwan’s Delta Electronics to roll out solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) power systems in the European market.

Under the new partnership, Delta will provide on-site power generation systems based on solid oxide technology for data centre and industrial deployments where grid constraints are hampering delays.

Within the next year, the pair aim to establish a demonstration facility in the UK and target delivering “megawatt-scale” systems in the next three to five years.

SOFCs are fuel flexible fuel cell technology that can generate power from fuels like hydrogen, natural gas, or biogas through a high-temperature electrochemical reaction.

Under its license with Ceres, Delta expects to start producing SOFCs this year.

Separately, Centrica recently partnered with Ceres to explore natural gas-fuelled fuel cells to alleviate grid connection delays in Europe.

Chris O’Shea, Group Chief Executive of Centrica, said that European grids are becoming overwhelmed and claimed the new partnership with Delta could deliver decentralised energy at scale.

Grid-independent power solutions are gaining worldwide traction as energy uncertainty threatens outages and demand ramps up with the expansion of energy-intensive digital infrastructure.