EBay's New Data Center Will Be Powered 100 Percent by Fuel Cells

June 28, 2012

EBay is building a new data center in South Jordan, Utah that will be powered exclusively by 30 fuel cells rather than the power grid, becoming the first retail and technology company to take the leap.

While it will rely 100 percent on fuel cells, it will connect to the power grid only as a backup power source, according to a recent New York Times report.

The online retailer plans to use approximately six million watts of power generated by the fuel cells, which will be manufactured by Bloom Energy, based in Sunnyvale, Calif.

“Does it have risk? Sure. Did it require investment? Sure. But it’s an investment and a risk that is worth taking,” John Donahoe, eBay’s president and CEO told the New York Times.

Peter Gross, vice president of mission critical systems at Bloom, said the eBay data center is pioneering installation. It is “an extraordinary step to do something that has never been done before,” he said.

The charge in fuel cells are maintained by the hydrocarbon energy in natural gas.

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