Fuel cells are powering AI data center demand - Interchange Recharged скачать в хорошем качестве

Fuel cells are powering AI data center demand - Interchange Recharged

The AI revolution is creating unprecedented power demand, with US data centers announcing an average of 435 megawatts per month. But power infrastructure can't keep up - natural gas turbines have five to six-year lead times, and grid interconnection queues are backed up even longer. Enter fuel cells as a fast-deploying alternative that's capturing billions in commitments from major utilities and hyperscalers. In this episode of Interchange Recharged, host Bridget Van Dorsten sits down with Akhil Betheja, Director of Technology Strategy at Bloom Energy, to explore how solid oxide fuel cell technology is emerging as a solution to the data center power crisis. They discuss: How Bloom Energy's stock surged 360% with major deals from Brookfield ($5B), Oracle and AEP ($2.6B) Why data centers prioritize speed-to-power above all else, followed by reliability and economics How fuel cells differ from batteries and gas turbines and their competitive advantages Fuel flexibility: running on natural gas, hydrogen, biogas, or blends to future-proof investments The modular "Lego block" approach: scaling from 65kW modules to gigawatt-scale deployments Load following AI workloads: using supercapacitors to handle millisecond power spikes DC power architecture: how fuel cells' native DC output could revolutionize data center efficiency Pathways to decarbonisation through carbon capture and alternative fuels Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction: The AI power infrastructure challenge 01:37 - Meet Akhil: 9 years at Bloom Energy and the fuel cell technology 03:29 - The 2025 shift: 360% stock surge and billion-dollar deals 05:11 - Fuel cells explained: electrochemistry vs combustion 06:17 - Primary vs backup power and fuel cell advantages 07:18 - Fuel flexibility: natural gas, hydrogen, biogas and blends 08:32 - Efficiency comparison: fuel cells vs gas turbines 09:50 - What data centers need: speed, reliability, economics 12:32 - Bloom's role: primary power, bridging, or fully islanded solutions 15:17 - The paradigm shift: from 1% to 33% considering 100% onsite power 17:10 - Competing with gas turbines: permitting, reliability and modularity 20:15 - Technology challenges: power density and perception 22:20 - Modularity and scalability: the Lego block analogy 24:04 - Manufacturing capacity: scaling from 1GW to 2GW per year 26:09 - Load following AI workloads with supercapacitor technology 32:15 - DC power advantage: the future of data center architecture 37:13 - Decarbonisation pathways: carbon capture and alternative fuels 41:48 - Closing thoughts and future outlook Guest: Akhil Betheja, Director of Technology Strategy at Bloom Energy Host: Bridget Van Dorsten, Hydrogen Research Analyst at Wood Mackenzie and Interim Host of Interchange Recharged Listen and follow: Interchange Recharged on woodmac.com: https://www.woodmac.com/podcasts/the-... Interchange Recharged on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Interchange Recharged on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/19HNFf7... Let us know what you think! We’re on X at @theinterchange and Bluesky at @theinterchange.bsky.social. Follow the show so you don’t miss an episode.