Bloom Energy Powering Two California Sites in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic
April 21 2020 - 2:26PM
Business Wire
Clean energy company initiates rapid deployment
of microgrids in record time to support expected patient overflow
in first-of-their-kind projects
Bloom Energy (NYSE: BE) today announced two rapid-deployment
fuel cell projects that will support California patients affected
by COVID-19. Bloom’s Energy Servers provide electricity that can
reduce smog-forming pollution and particulate matter by over 99
percent compared with existing combustion-based power generation
sources, ensuring that COVID-19 patients with severe respiratory
issues breathe clean air.
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The COVID-19 crisis is overwhelming existing hospitals,
necessitating the deployment of secondary locations to treat
patients. Powering these new locations reliably is an immediate
challenge that cannot be ignored.
In the first project – at the Vallejo, Calif., site of a
national hospital system – Bloom deployed a fuel cell-based
microgrid capable of powering a field hospital in the main
hospital’s parking lot to accommodate patient overflow, if needed.
Bloom already has 1,200 kilowatts of Energy Servers powering the
main hospital, and was able to leverage its on-the-ground
capabilities to install the microgrid in only three days – five
days ahead of schedule. The microgrid is virtually vibration free
and quiet, eliminating potential shaking related damage to
sensitive medical equipment and disruption to the local community.
It is compact, occupying only three parking spaces at the site.
“Our modular energy servers were designed with ‘quick time to
power’ as an important value proposition. We advanced our rapid
deploy microgrid offering greatly after the Public Safety Power
Shutoff (PSPS) events last year to help customers affected by the
wildfire related power outages in California,” said Bloom Energy
founder, chairman, and CEO, KR Sridhar. “Solving complex technical
problems is in our DNA and it is gratifying to the Bloom team that
the energy solutions we have spent years developing can be
especially useful in this time of national crisis. In the future,
we will be able to use this solution for other rapid deploy
scenarios for emergency management.”
The State of California called on Bloom to rapidly deploy a
primary power energy solution at Sleep Train Arena, the former home
of the Sacramento Kings basketball team, where the system will
support a field hospital being assembled by the State to treat
overflow COVID-19 patients. Bloom has installed a 400-kilowatt fuel
cell-based microgrid to power a training facility on site that will
hold approximately 100 hospital beds.
“We partnered with Bloom Energy to quickly provide an on-site,
reliable power solution and back-up capabilities,” said California
Governor’s Office of Emergency Services deputy director, Ryan
Buras. “Bloom’s microgrid solution dramatically reduces electricity
costs and greenhouse gas emissions, which fulfills our commitment
to providing clean and affordable energy during this pandemic.”
The microgrid will displace diesel generators, which produce
particulates and more than 40 toxic air contaminants, including a
variety of carcinogenic compounds. Respiratory disease requires
clean air systems, and traditional backups like diesel generators
create pollution and air quality issues that are harmful to
patients. A recent study by researchers at Harvard noted a sharply
higher mortality rate among coronavirus patients in areas with even
slightly increased levels of air pollution.1
The Sleep Train Arena project was deployed in record time – in
less than two weeks rather than months – to support California
emergency response activities. The company is working with the
State of California and other essential businesses to explore
additional opportunities for rapid deployment of energy solutions
to support pandemic response efforts.
This effort comes on the heels of the company’s effort to
refurbish out-of-service ventilators at the behest of California
Governor Gavin Newsom. In just over three weeks, the company has
refurbished over 1,200 ventilators at its Sunnyvale, Calif., and
Newark, Del., facilities, and estimates it can service 2,000 a week
if the need arises. The company is providing refurbished
ventilators to states of California, Delaware, and
Pennsylvania.
About Bloom Energy
Bloom Energy’s mission is to make clean, reliable energy
affordable for everyone in the world. The company’s product, the
Bloom Energy Server, delivers highly reliable and resilient,
always-on electric power that is clean, cost-effective, and ideal
for microgrid applications. Bloom’s customers include many Fortune
100 companies and leaders in manufacturing, data centers,
healthcare, retail, higher education, utilities, and other
industries. For more information, visit www.bloomenergy.com.
1 https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/covid-pm
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Justin Saia Bloom Energy justin.saia@bloomenergy.com (408)
543-1235
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