California Resources와 Bloom Energy는 데이터센터 및 기타 전력 수요처에 전력을 공급하기 위해 캘리포니아 전역에 1GW 규모의 연료전지를 구축하는 것을 목표로 하고 있으며, 이 시스템을 탄소 포집·저장(CCS)과 연계할 계획이다.

California Resources Corporation (CRC), an independent energy firm, and Bloom Energy have partnered to evaluate developing 1GW or more of fuel cell generation in California, with data centers among the targeted offtakers.

The companies signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding to evaluate deploying Bloom's solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), coupled with carbon capture systems.

Bloom develops SOFC generators, known as the Bloom Box, which are stationary power generators that convert fuel into electricity through an electrochemical process without combustion. While they can run on hydrogen, the vast majority currently rely on natural gas.

The companies said they will seek offtake customers including data centers, utilities, community choice aggregators, municipalities, and other industrial users. They also said they will complete the interconnection and permitting work needed to bring projects online.

The plan covers both front-of-the-meter and behind-the-meter projects in Central and Northern California. Front-of-the-meter projects would connect to utility offtake. Behind-the-meter projects, across CRC's Central Valley footprint, would serve industrial users seeking on-site power.

Bloom would supply the fuel cells and third-party carbon capture technology. CRC's carbon management business, Carbon TerraVault (CTV), is expected to handle CO2 transport and storage, with CRC managing the projects.

The companies said Bloom's fuel cells produce a high-concentration CO2 exhaust stream, which they claim makes capture more efficient and cost-effective. The partners said up to three million metric tons per annum of CO2 could potentially be captured and stored.

"California needs more clean, firm, reliable, and affordable power generated here at home. We are uniquely positioned with land, vast subsurface storage, and CO2 transportation and storage expertise," said Francisco Leon, CRC's president and CEO. "When combined with Bloom's non-combustion technology with highly efficient carbon capture, we are positioned to deliver clean and affordable energy to power data centers and the grid at scale."

Aman Joshi, Bloom's chief commercial officer, added: "Our non-combustion technology makes carbon capture more efficient and economically viable at scale, opening a new path to carbon-neutral power generation and addressing the decarbonization needs of large critical infrastructure."

Bloom has signed a range of deals across the data center sector in recent years.

Earlier this year, it expanded an agreement with cloud firm Oracle to supply up to 2.8GW of capacity. The companies first agreed to a deal last year for an initial 1.2GW. However, deployments of the technology at Oracle's Jupiter data center in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, have faced roadblocks due to opposition to the extension of a gas pipeline expected to feed the facility's fuel cells.

Bloom has also signed deals with Equinix for deployments across 19 data centers with a capacity exceeding 100MW, and with US utility American Electric Power (AEP) for up to 1GW of SOFCs to power AI data centers off-grid. In October, AEP signed a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement with Google, which committed to offtake 702MW of power from a fuel cell generation project near Cheyenne, Wyoming, that uses Bloom's fuel cells.