Big News! The Casa Grande commission in Arizona has approved of the plan for the massive data center that will use Bloom fuel cells [link]. Of course this is facing opposition and will probably be subject to hearings similar to New Jersey, New Mexico, etc. The specs call for 1.2GW of Bloom fuel cells (total of 3693) see page 3 of the draft permit [link].
According to the Taiwan Industrial and Commercial Times, the project is served by Hexi Energy as the EPC, using Bloom Energy solid-state oxide fuel cell (SOFC) to generate electricity on site. It is expected to be completed and put into operation in the first quarter of 2027, which is a support for production expansion rather than a simple demonstration.
I just watched a yt vid by joshsullivanspace who follows SpaceX and there is a lot of info about Musk's plans for massive projects that require massive natural gas supplies and these projects are underway at great speed in several states but mostly Texas. It seems SpaceX signed oil and gas leases, may drill gas wells, is building starpipe to bring natural gas to starbase, is building a massive chipfab plant with behind the meter power and is moving at light speed on all these projects. I have been searching for any connections/info about BE and SPCX but found nothing so far. I know I am just speculating but both BE and GEV need natural gas, SPCX is buying access to natural gas supplies and controlling distribution and delivery, and BE beats time to power by years, and SPCX is a fast mover with massive funding. How likely is it SPCX goes with BE for at least some of the projects?
Here's an article about a DataOne data center project.
"DataOne also said it plans to purchase 350 megawatts of electricity from the power grid from the Indiana Municipal Power Agency and generate the rest of the power needed for the data center through fuel cell technology. The company added that it plans to fund two new substations to support any additional strain on the grid."
This appears to be an amended proposal to only use 115 acres versus the original of 715 acres which was rejected earlier this year [link]. 175 megawatts is planned for the fuel cell portion according to some social media posts [link]. Nebius appear to be involved as well and this has many similarities to the Vineland, New Jersey project in that an original proposal was rejected and an updated design involving Bloom was drafted.
New update: the New Mexico Environment Department appointed retired U.S. District Judge James O. Browning as the new hearing officer for Project Jupiter’s air-quality permit proceeding, AQB 26-57 / NSR Permit 10883. Browning replaces Max Shepherd, who recused himself in August. The appointment was made by NMED Secretary James Kenney through a formal Notification of Hearing Officer Substitution.
Also, from Permitting perspectives Bloom Energy should not have an issue because it’s the cleanest of any other currently available alternatives.
It's great that Bloom has been more active on X lately. Anyone else notice the same? Today there was a post from them
I believe they're referring to Virginia's energy plan published yesterday. In this document there's mention of fuel-cells under the non-combustion gas resources. Under two of the possible scenarios (page 112) they mention using non-combustion gas solutions of up to 5GW by 2035.
This would be massive for Bloom if they could even participate in 20% of that for another GW! Page 118 goes on to clarify that fuel-cells fall under this non-combustion gas category.
Edit: Looks like RBC was all over this today as well and hence them re-affirming $335 price target.
