eBay with a vision to power commerce with clean energy, announced its plans to build the next phase of the company’s flagship data center with renewable energy as its primary source. The company partnered with Bloom Energy, incorporating 30 Bloom Energy servers into the new data center’s energy architecture. The electric utility grid will be used only as backup.
The new six-megawatt (MW) Bloom installation is being designed and engineered into eBay’s expanded data center facility in Utah, and will be fully functional by mid-2013. Each of the 30 Bloom Energy servers will generate 1.75 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity annually, and will be installed a few hundred feet from the center itself, virtually eliminating traditional utility grid losses.
eBay will use the Bloom fuel cells—which generate on-site power 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. eBay’s fuel cells will be powered by biogas, a fossil fuel alternative derived from renewable organic waste. The Bloom servers will power millions of transactions by eBay’s more than 102 million active users, who generate more than $69 billion in merchandise volume annually.
The new Bloom Energy project will be eBay’s fifth and largest renewable energy installation. eBay operates a 650 kilowatt (kW) solar array and a 500 kW Bloom fuel cell installation at its San Jose headquarters, as well as a 100 kW solar array at its Denver data center. The new data center will become the third facility in Utah demonstrating the company’s commitment to doing greener, cleaner business in the state, and everywhere it operates.
