Technology

Bloom Energy is a company which was founded in 2001 and has its headquarters in Sunnyvale at California. Their product Energy ServersTM for generating power at the commercial site itself is used by some of the renowned corporate names such as Coca Cola, Google, Federal Express and more. This unique product uses a cell technology which was innovated during preparation of NASAs Mars program. I concede that the server uses materials and fuel which is renewable and combined with technology that will be able to produce affordable, reliable and clean power anywhere. Perhaps, there may be resistance by the government as it may reduce the revenues they generate from the utility companies while their customers will switch to Blooms Energy Servers as their primary source of power.  Admittedly, this product seems to be a reliable source of power for customers but it may not be able to cater to a wider audience as it may require niche technical skills for maintenance and support which many may not be afford.

The technology used and architecture of Bloom Energy servers
It is made up of a technology that uses solid oxide powered fuel cells which is different than the traditional hydrogen fuel cells as the material cost is lower, higher efficiency and flexibility in choice of fuels. Also, this device employs electro-chemical processes to convert fuel in to electricity unlike the regular combustion techniques.

Energy Server comprises of thousands of fuel cells where each solid flat ceramic square is made up of common sand powder. One fuel cell is capable of producing 25W of power which is sufficient to light a bulb. More number of cells is sandwiched with the help of some interconnecting plates which is then called a stack. This stack is then sufficient enough to power a house. These stacks are coupled together form power modules with a common fuel input and common electricity output to form an assembled system. In case there is a higher requirement for power, many energy systems are deployed along side.

It is granted that it has advantage of easy setup and deployment for scaling up or down but the issue is that it will require expert skills for initial setup and continuous maintenance as the technology involved is uncommon unlike that used for combustion generators which can be handled by common man.

Energy economics, lock-in pricing, pay as you grow, cleaner energy and security
The prices have gone up by 6 in the last 40 years. Experts have concluded that there will be a further significant increase in the prices due to rising fuel costs and large investments which are being made to overhaul the grid infrastructure. Not only is the price increasing but the volatility is very high as the outages are unpredictable due to shortage of power, natural disasters, surges etc.  Bloom Energys solution can help in overcoming the hurdles of energy but on the opposing the government may not commission this product as easily as it is not in their interest while their revenues begin receding.
With Bloom Energys solution, the clients can get in to a long term arrangement (lock-in pricing) with fuel suppliers sourcing at discounted rate in turn producing electricity at lower rates for the same fuel. The onsite generator will not have costs to be considered for transmission and distribution (TD) which again will hit the interests of the government as they may not be able to generate revenues by recovering TD costs in the energy bills.

Economic viability is not the only need of the hour. The customers are also conscious about reducing their carbon footprint but not at the cost of their bottom line. The Bloom Energys solution helps the customers even make a choice of their fuel which can help them reduce their contribution of carbon, sulphur and nitrogen emissions. It having a modular architecture, businesses can install capacity as per their power needs and can augment the capacity when the need grows. It is not easy as it sounds because it may require experts on the team dedicated to handle the maintenance of the servers which is not the case otherwise. This can also divert the companys attention to issues which used to trivial earlier.

Energy security is the also critical knowing that most have complete dependence on the grid which is a shared and centralized resource. One cannot forget the blackout of 2003, where 55 million people in eight US States and Canada were affected. The answer to this is distributed generation.

Distributed generation
Admittedly, Distribution Generation is the need of the hour where the load of power requirement on central grids has to be shifted to the consumer and Bloom Energys Energy Servers perhaps are a solution to the worlds latest requirement of Distributed Generation. The power has to be generated at on-site than centrally and hence eliminating the cost, interdependencies, and inefficiencies associated weith sourcing power through transmission and distribution. But looking at the complexities involved with the new technology and lack of availability of expert skills it will be difficult for customers to devote and maintain such servers while their attention gets diverted from their main business.

Irrespective of combustion and solar energy being unclean and intermittent options, they may still be preferred over the Blooms energy servers as they are easy to procure, install and maintain as there is sufficient expertise available to maintain and support them.

I concede that the Energy Servers are able to lower energy costs, eliminate volatility, save environment, improve security and reliability and get easy access to power. Perhaps it may not be as successful as it may require expert skills who can handle the new technology using sand as fuel. There could also be resistance from the government as it doesnt serve their interest while they may lose revenues in case Energy Servers turn out to be successful.