Update: A previous version of this story said Equinix had deployed a hydrogen fuel cell at one of its data centers, but the company reached out to clarify this is a temporary demonstration as opposed to a permanent deployment.
Colocation firm Equinix is exploring deployment of hydrogen fuel cells at its data center in Dublin, Ireland.
Peter Lantry, managing director for Equinix Ireland, posted the news on LinkedIn this week. He said: “I am delighted to be able to give a little preview of the new ESB Hydrogen Fuel Cell zero carbon technology developed by GeoPura to our global design and operations leadership team including Equinix global head of operations Raouf Abdel at our Dublin International Business Exchange.”
He continued: “Equinix is committed to sustainable digital infrastructure solutions and we are working with ESB and GeoPura to develop a hydrogen-powered solution for our future International Business Exchange facilities in Dublin.”
Further details of the deployment weren’t shared. Equinix operates four IBX data centers (DB1-4) and one xScale facility (DB5x) in the Irish capital.
Update:
A spokesperson for Equinix reached out to DCD to clarify that while a temporary demonstration pod was deployed at one of the company's sites on tour from ESB and GeoPura, is not a permanent deployment.
"We are working on plans to expand the use of fuel cell technology for a full data center solution in the coming months and years," the spokesperson said.
Original story resumes:
State-owned energy firm ESB is investing in hydrogen production and storage.
Founded in 2019, GeoPura is developing hydrogen power units to replace diesel generators. According to CrunchBase, the company has secured £92 million ($118m) in funding; backers include the UK Infrastructure Bank, Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital, GM Ventures, SWEN Capital Partners, and Siemens Energy Ventures.
The company’s Hydrogen Power Unit (HPU) is a 20ft shipping container housing industrial hydrogen fuel cells. It provides 250kW electrical output, 80kW thermal power, and 216kWh battery storage. Multiple containers can be combined to provide a 2MW system. The company produces its own green hydrogen to supply the HPUs.
GeoPure said previous customers of HPUs include the UK's Ministry of Defence, Balfour Beatty, National Grid, and the BBC, and the company plans to deploy a fleet of more than 3,600 HPUs by 2033.
Andrew Cunningham, director at GeoPura, said on LinkedIn: “How great it is then to have extremely positive cooperation with Equinix. They are also a company that from the top down is determined to show how investing in capabilities such as renewable fuel can change the perception amongst some that major power consumers are causing a problem to one where, in partnership with organizations such as ESB, they are demonstrably a key part of the solution.”
For its part, Equinix has been looking at fuel cells for a long time, and recently spoke to DCD about the role of natural gas fuel cells in dealing with emerging unreliabilities in the US grid. The company trialed the technology in Frankfurt as long ago as 2013, and installed fuel cells from Bloom at 12 data centers in 2017. It has also previously tested hydrogen fuel cell power for data centers in Singapore.
Honda last year deployed a hydrogen fuel cell system for data center backup at its facility in California. HCL, also in California, is running a 1MW data center primarily via hydrogen.
The likes of Microsoft, Nxtra, NorthC, and others are known to be using hydrogen fuel cells in some capacity.
