12 Additional North American Data Centers to be Powered with State of the Art Fuel Cell Technology
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Aug. 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Equinix, Inc. (EQIX), the global interconnection and data center company, today announced the signing of a 15-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) between a subsidiary of Southern Company and Equinix in which Bloom Energy fuel cells will be installed at 12 International Business ExchangeTM (IBX®) data centers in the U.S. The project will provide a total capacity of more than 37 megawatts of power with a phased installation that begins in late 2017 through 2019.
The new project will install fuel cells at seven Equinix IBX data centers in the Silicon Valley (SV1, SV2, SV3, SV4, SV5, SV6, SV10), three in the New York area (NY2, NY4, NY5) and two in the Los Angeles area (LA3, LA4). It builds on the pilot program at Equinix’s Silicon Valley SV5 IBX data center that began in 2015.
This investment is a key milestone in Equinix’s corporate sustainability program which focuses on making a positive impact on the company’s employees, the communities in which it operates and the environment.
The project is financed through Southern Company and reflects a strategic partnership between Bloom Energy and Southern Company to support on-site fuel cell solutions.
Highlights / Key Facts
- With the existing fuel cell at the SV5 IBX, and existing fuel cell installations at two IBXs acquired from Verizon this year (LA7 and NY13), the new project will bring Equinix to a total of more than 40 megawatts of fuel cell provisioned power at 15 locations.
- Once installed and operational, the Equinix fuel cell project will operate at world leading efficiency, providing power that is 20-45 percent cleaner than the equivalent utility provided natural gas powered generation. Over the lifetime of the project, this will avoid 660,000 tons of carbon emissions and save 87 billion gallons of water that would have been used by natural gas or coal-fired utility generation.
- In addition to the significant sustainability impact, the project provides 24 x 7 always-on, highly reliable power optimally matched to the operational requirements of the data center.
- This project will relieve the day-to-day stress on local utility providers, helping to delay new utility generation and providing electricity directly where it is needed.
- Equinix recently released its second annual Corporate Sustainability Report that includes a review of progress towards Equinix’s long-term goal of using 100 percent clean and renewable energy, as well as progress toward Equinix’s other goal of growing a responsible and sustainable company. As of 2016, Equinix had achieved 56 percent renewable energy coverage worldwide.
- In addition to these fuel cell initiatives, Equinix is also engaged in Power Purchase Agreements for wind energy from Oklahoma and Texas, providing a total of 225 megawatts of capacity.
- Bloom Energy fuel cells use a proprietary solid oxide technology to generate electricity through a clean electrochemical process using air and fuel and resulting in only water and a small amount of carbon dioxide as by-products. SOx (sulfur oxides), NOx (nitrogen oxides) and other harmful smog-forming particulate emissions are virtually eliminated with the use of Bloom Energy fuel cells.
Quotes
- Karl Strohmeyer, President, Americas, Equinix
“As Equinix data centers, and the interconnection they facilitate, become increasingly critical to the infrastructure of our digital world, this fuel cell expansion is one step in lessening the overall impact of the digital economy on the planet. It enables us to serve our customers with the highest levels of performance while assisting their efforts to make their supply chain clean and efficient.” - KR Sridhar, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Bloom Energy
“There is no greater compliment and validation of our energy platform than to have our existing customers continue to expand their deployments of Bloom Energy Servers, and today, Equinix is doing that in a big way.” - Tom Fanning, Chairman, President and CEO, Southern Company
“Our strategic partnership with Bloom Energy was established to deliver greater value for customers by providing innovative energy solutions directly on the customer premise. This project with Equinix further demonstrates that this approach is meeting the smart energy demands of today’s leading companies.”
Additional Resources
- Equinix Corporate Sustainability Report 2016
- Equinix – Green by Design
- U.S. EPA Green Power Partner List
About Equinix
Equinix, Inc. (EQIX) connects the world’s leading businesses to their customers, employees and partners inside the most interconnected data centers. In 44 markets across five continents, Equinix is where companies come together to realize new opportunities and accelerate their business, IT and cloud strategies. www.equinix.com.
About Bloom Energy
Bloom Energy is a provider of breakthrough solid oxide fuel cell technology generating clean, highly efficient onsite power from multiple fuel sources. Founded in 2001 with a mission to make clean, reliable energy affordable for everyone in the world, Bloom Energy Servers are currently producing power for many Fortune 500 companies including Google, Wal-Mart, AT&T, eBay, Staples, The Coca-Cola Company, as well as notable non-profit organizations such as Caltech and Kaiser Permanente. Also, with its Mission Critical Systems practice, Bloom Energy provides grid-independent power for critical loads in data centers and manufacturing. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit www.bloomenergy.com.
About Southern Company
Southern Company (SO) is America’s premier energy company, with 46,000 megawatts of generating capacity and 1,500 billion cubic feet of combined natural gas consumption and throughput volume serving 9 million customers through its subsidiaries. The company provides clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy through electric operating companies in four states, natural gas distribution companies in seven states, a competitive generation company serving wholesale customers across America and a nationally recognized provider of customized energy solutions, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications. Southern Company brands are known for excellent customer service, high reliability and affordable prices that are below the national average. Through an industry-leading commitment to innovation, Southern Company and its subsidiaries are inventing America’s energy future by developing the full portfolio of energy resources, including carbon-free nuclear, 21st century coal, natural gas, renewables and energy efficiency, and creating new products and services for the benefit of customers. Southern Company has been named by the U.S. Department of Defense and G.I. Jobs magazine as a top military employer, recognized among the Top 50 Companies for Diversity by DiversityInc, listed by Black Enterprise magazine as one of the 40 Best Companies for Diversity and designated a Top Employer for Hispanics by Hispanic Network. The company has earned a National Award of Nuclear Science and History from the National Atomic Museum Foundation for its leadership and commitment to nuclear development and is continually ranked among the top energy companies in Fortune’s annual World’s Most Admired Electric and Gas Utility rankings. Visit our website at www.southerncompany.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from expectations discussed in such forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to, the challenges of acquiring, operating and constructing IBX centers and developing, deploying and delivering Equinix services; unanticipated costs or difficulties relating to the integration of companies we have acquired or will acquire into Equinix; a failure to receive significant revenue from customers in recently built out or acquired data centers; failure to complete any financing arrangements contemplated from time to time; competition from existing and new competitors; the ability to generate sufficient cash flow or otherwise obtain funds to repay new or outstanding indebtedness; the loss or decline in business from our key customers; and other risks described from time to time in Equinix’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In particular, see Equinix’s recent quarterly and annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which are available upon request from Equinix. Equinix does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.
Equinix and IBX are registered trademarks of Equinix, Inc.
International Business Exchange is a trademark of Equinix, Inc.
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