Bloom Energy Corporation (Bloom Energy) designs, manufactures, sells and installs solid oxide fuel cell systems (the Energy Server systems) for on-site power generation. The company provides innovative distributed energy technology solutions to customers at an important moment in the world’s energy transition.
The company manufactures one of the advanced and versatile fuel cell energy platforms, supporting the commercial availability of two products: the Bloom Energy Server for generating elect...
Bloom Energy Corporation (Bloom Energy) designs, manufactures, sells and installs solid oxide fuel cell systems (the Energy Server systems) for on-site power generation. The company provides innovative distributed energy technology solutions to customers at an important moment in the world’s energy transition.
The company manufactures one of the advanced and versatile fuel cell energy platforms, supporting the commercial availability of two products: the Bloom Energy Server for generating electricity and the Bloom Electrolyzer for producing hydrogen. With approximately 1.4 gigawatts (GW) of Energy Server systems deployed in more than 1,000 locations and 9 countries, its fuel cell platform empowers businesses, essential services, critical infrastructure, utilities, and communities with resilient, reliable, and sustainable energy solutions.
In 2024, the company’s power-generation business capitalized on the following key trends demand for power is increasing, driven by data centers and artificial intelligence; time to power is growing in importance as demand outstrips supply; co-locating large loads with distributed generation configured as islanded microgrids are gaining in traction as energy solutions to bypass long interconnection queues and transmission upgrades; utilities are turning to distributed energy solutions to decrease their customers’ time to power; fuel flexible solutions address reliability concerns, as well as near- and long-term sustainability considerations.
Markets
The company's platform is designed to meet these demands and solve these challenges. Global electricity systems are now facing a range of significant challenges, including threats from extreme weather events, aging transmission and distribution systems, a wave of retiring generation assets, difficult integration of intermittent renewables, and load growth that is far outpacing the installation of new resources.
The U.S. is the company's largest market in terms of revenue and the installed base of the Energy Server system. Its major customers include companies in industries such as utilities, data centers, agriculture, retail, hospitals, higher education, biotech, and manufacturing. Many of its customers are looking to solve time-to-power issues where they cannot get energy fast enough from the grid or current energy providers to meet their commercial objectives. The company's utility customers are using its Energy Server system as an alternative source of on-site power that they can supply to their end customers, including AI data centers. Moreover, the company's resilient technology provides secure power to critical facilities, including data centers, hospitals, and high-tech manufacturing, while also serving to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The company also works with several global financing and distribution partners who purchase and deploy its systems at end-customers’ facilities to provide electricity-as-a-service.
The company's second-largest market in terms of revenue and the installed base of the Energy Server systems is South Korea. It began commercial operations in South Korea in 2018 and has grown its footprint to nearly 600 megawatts of deployed Energy Server equipment across south korea. SK ecoplant Co., Ltd. (SK ecoplant) and SK eternix Co., Ltd. (SK eternix) serve as distributors of its systems in the Republic of Korea. The volatility of the Korean Won, as experienced in the past several months, may impact the company's commercial efforts in the region.
Products and Services
Solid Oxide Platform
The company's solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology platform is the foundation for its Energy Server system and Bloom Electrolyzer. Its modular and configurable solid oxide platform is capable of providing a variety of sustainable energy solutions—from zero carbon electricity to clean hydrogen. The company continues to evolve and expand its offerings as it pursues its mission to make clean, reliable energy affordable for all. Its solid oxide platform has four core attributes that span its portfolio:
Shared Solid Oxide Technology: The company's products leverage the same proprietary fuel cell technology, including cell printing, stack, and column configurations that drive high-efficiency energy production across products and applications.
Common Product Architecture. The same enclosures and skid mounted installation methods are common across its products and the modular, fault tolerant design enables resilient operation and service capability.
Shared Supply Chain and Manufacturing Process: The company's core technology components and supplier network are shared across products. The same manufacturing lines, personnel, and processes are leveraged at its Fremont, California cell print factory and Delaware assembly facility, which enables manufacturing stability and expandability. Remote monitoring, repair, and overhaul (R&O) operations are also combined to support consistent and data-driven end-of-life recovery.
Flexible Offerings: The company’s products allow for a variety of deployment configurations and applications to serve its customers’ operational and sustainability goals.
The Bloom Energy Server System
The company's power generation platform, the Bloom Energy Server system, is designed to deliver reliable, resilient, clean, and affordable energy for utilities and organizations alike. Suitable to operate in parallel with the grid, independent of the grid, or as part of a larger microgrid ecosystem, the Bloom Energy Server system is based on its proprietary solid oxide technology that converts fuel, such as natural gas, biogas, hydrogen, or a blend of these fuels, into electricity through an electrochemical process without combustion. The electrical output of the Energy Server system is designed to be connected to the customer’s main electrical feed, thereby avoiding the transmission and distribution losses associated with a centralized grid system. The modular nature of the solution enables any number of Energy Server systems to be clustered together in various configurations, providing solutions from hundreds of kilowatts to hundreds of megawatts. The Energy Server system is designed to be easily integrated into community environments due to its aesthetically attractive design, compact space requirement, minimal noise profile, low water consumption, and near-zero criteria air pollutant emissions.
The Energy Server system can be utilized in the following applications bringing additional value to the energy market:
CCUS: The company's Energy Server system, when combined with third-party carbon capture technology, can provide near zero-carbon electricity. During normal operations using natural gas or biogas fuel sources, the Energy Server system vents CO2 into the atmosphere as a byproduct. When used in conjunction with carbon capture equipment, the Energy Server is configured to output CO2 for consolidation, compression, and processing for sequestration or utilization in other consumer or industrial applications. The compression and processing of the anode exhaust can be performed by industrial gas companies that specialize in carbon capture technology and techniques. Bloom’s anode exhaust, once dried, has 95% purity of CO2.
CHP: High-temperature cathode exhaust from the Energy Server system can be channeled, allowing the resulting exhaust heat to be fed to one or more heat recovery devices, such as a heat exchanger or an absorption chiller, to support both heating applications as well as air conditioning, refrigeration, and/or process fluid cooling for use in commercial buildings or other industrial plants. In 2024, the company improved its CHP offering, increasing the combined efficiency of its technology to 85%, with a goal of reaching, through continuous improvement, a 90% efficiency threshold.
Waste to Energy: Bloom Energy’s SOFCs provide an electrochemical pathway to convert biogas to electricity without combustion, producing carbon-neutral electricity with near-zero air pollution and water usage. The Energy Server system can utilize proven, off-the-shelf gas conditioning equipment to process raw biogas into suitable fuel for power generation.
Value Proposition
Scalable, Modular, Fault Tolerant Designs: The modular nature of the Energy Server system design allows for design flexibility, producing operational and serviceability advantages over other technologies. The company's systems have design flexibility to support power needs from kW to hundreds of MWs and include a wide range of reliability and output guarantees. The system is capable of operating at very high availability, as independent power generation modules can be easily replaced to provide uninterrupted service, and its redundant architecture reduces single points of failure. As a result, unlike traditional combustion generation, the company’s Energy Server system can be serviced and maintained without powering down. Modularity also provides ease of scalability as customers grow their power needs over time. The company’s Energy Server system is often configured as a microgrid solution without any dependency on transmission or distribution lines. These microgrids can be configured to support all or a portion of a customer’s load and are often installed alongside batteries to increase flexibility and reliability.
Resilient: The company's Energy Server system avoids the vulnerabilities of conventional transmission and distribution lines by generating power on-site. Importantly, Bloom Energy Server systems that utilize existing natural gas infrastructure rely on a redundant underground mesh network, intended to provide extremely high fuel availability that helps to mitigate some exposure to certain natural disasters, extreme weather events, and other environmental conditions that often disrupt the power grid.
Reliable Generation for Mission Critical Facilities: The modular design of the Energy Server system can be configured into large-scale Energy Server farms. Using a customized approach for each customer, these farms can be configured to have minimal redundancy to produce reliable power output that can meet or exceed grid reliability depending on the needs of the customer. The company's Energy Server systems are designed to deliver 24x7 power with very high availability, mission-critical reliability, and grid-independent capabilities.
Flexible Deployment Configurations: The Energy Server system can operate independently as a distributed energy resource, or in combination with other energy resources like the grid, renewables, and generators. The Be Flexible platform and system enhancements support ramping and load following capability without compromising service life. The operational flexibility of the Energy Server system allows it to handle many types of customer loads, including the peak loads associated with AI data centers.
Future Proof for the Energy Transition: The company's Energy Server systems can convert hydrogen into electricity, but they are optimized based on fuels that are readily available, like natural gas and biogas. Combined with CCUS capability, Bloom offers its customers sustainability benefits today with multiple pathways to long-term decarbonization.
Bloom Electrolyzer
The Bloom Electrolyzer is designed to produce scalable and cost-effective hydrogen using the same solid oxide platform as the company’s Energy Server system. The Bloom Electrolyzer supplants the conventional way of making hydrogen. The company’s electrolyzer efficiently uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The Bloom Electrolyzer can be paired with a variety of clean energy inputs, including renewable or nuclear feedstocks, and can be sited flexibly delivering hydrogen to a variety of end users, such as industrial, transportation, and power sector applications. The company's solid oxide, higher-temperature electrolyzer is designed to produce hydrogen onsite more efficiently than lower-temperature PEM and alkaline electrolyzers. Because it operates at higher temperatures, the Bloom Electrolyzer requires less electric energy to break up water molecules and produce hydrogen.
Value Proposition
Higher Efficiency: Fuel (steam) supplied to the Bloom Electrolyzer undergoes an electrochemical reaction at 700-900 degrees Celsius, which is higher than other available technologies.
Proven with Decades of Experience: Although the Bloom Electrolyzer is a new product that opens up a new market for the company, its Energy Server system and Bloom Electrolyzer share the same solid oxide platform, so its commercial field experience in power generation directly transfers to its hydrogen production and products. The company builds upon the same core platform, supply chain, manufacturing process, and advanced remote software monitoring across all its products and applications.
Intellectual Property
As of December 31, 2024, the company had 358 active patents and 148 patent applications pending in the U.S., and it had an international patent portfolio comprising 177 active patents (counting patents by where enforceable) and 430 patent applications pending. Its U.S. patents are expected to expire between 2025 and 2044.
The company pursues the registration of its domain names, trademarks, and service marks in the U.S. and some international locations. ‘Bloom Energy’ and the ‘BE’ logos are its registered trademarks in certain countries for use with the Energy Server system and its other products. The company also holds registered trademarks for, among others, ‘Bloom Box,’ ‘BloomConnect,’ ‘BloomEnergy, and ‘Energy Server’ in various countries. Bloom has several trademark applications pending, including applications directed to new product categories, expanded use applications, and applications on several logos used by the company.
Services
The company executes operations and maintenance agreements (O&M Agreements) for its projects. The customer agrees to pay an ongoing service fee, and in return, the company monitors, maintains, and operates the Bloom systems on the customer’s or owner’s behalf. The company services and maintains every Energy Server system installed worldwide.
As of December 31, 2024, the company's in-house service organization had 182 dedicated field service personnel distributed across multiple locations in both the U.S. and internationally. Its standard O&M Agreements include full remote monitoring and 24x7 operational capability over the systems, as well as scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, which in practice includes preventative maintenance, such as filter and adsorbent replacements, and on-site part and periodic fuel cell replacements.
The company's two Remote Monitoring and Control Centers (RMCC) are responsible for providing 24x7 coverage of every installation worldwide. By situating its RMCC centers in the U.S. and India, the company is able to provide coverage cost-effectively and also provides a dual redundant system, with either site designed to operate continuously should an issue arise. Each Energy Server system the company ship includes instrumentation and a secure telemetry connection that enables the RMCC to monitor over 500 system performance parameters in real time. This comprehensive monitoring capability enables the RMCC operators to have a detailed understanding of the internal operation of the company's products. Using proprietary, internally developed software, the RMCC operators can detect changes and override the onboard automated control systems to remotely adjust parameters to maintain optimum system performance. In addition, the company undertakes advanced predictive analytics to identify potential issues before they arise and make adjustments prior to a failure occurring.
Purchase and Financing Options
Both in the U.S. and internationally, the company sells its products directly to customers. To appeal to a wide range of customers, it offers several financing options. In the U.S., the company also provides access to its Energy Server system through a Power Purchase Agreement, which involves the purchase of electricity generated by the Energy Server system in exchange for a scheduled dollars per kilowatt hour rate, through a Capacity Agreement where the customer pays a capacity-based flat payment, through a Lease Agreement where the customer pays a monthly fixed fee for the use of the equipment, and through a Managed Services Agreement, whereby the company sells and leases back the Energy Server system to supply energy services to its customers. Each of the foregoing is made possible through third-party financing arrangements by assembling such contracts into portfolios that are sold to investors.
Often, the company's offerings are designed to take advantage of local incentives. In the U.S., its financing arrangements are structured to optimize both federal and local incentives, including tax credits made available through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the IRA) and accelerated depreciation.
Sales, Marketing and Partnerships
The company sells its products through a combination of direct and indirect sales channels. At present, most of its U.S. sales are through its direct sales force, which is segmented by vertical and type of account. The company is expanding its relationship with utilities and other commercial customers across the U.S., and its utility relationships have become important partners in its sales activities. The company has developed a network of strategic advisors that create new opportunities and referrals to Bloom Energy, which has been a valuable source of high-quality leads.
SK ecoplant in the Republic of Korea is a strategic power generation and distribution partner. In October 2021, the company announced an expansion of its existing partnership with SK ecoplant, that includes purchase commitments for at least 500 megawatts of its Energy Server systems between 2022 and 2024, the creation of hydrogen innovation centers in the U.S. and the Republic of Korea to advance green hydrogen commercialization, and an equity investment in Bloom Energy. In September 2023, SK ecoplant became a related party to the company with the beneficial ownership of 10.5% of its outstanding Class A common stock. In December 2023, the company further expanded its business partnership with SK ecoplant through the increase of SK ecoplant’s purchase commitments for Bloom Energy products by 250 megawatts through 2027 and extended the timing of delivery of the remaining commitment under the original agreement.
Seasonal Trends
The company’s business and results of financial operations are subject to industry-specific seasonal fluctuations with the majority of bookings completed in the second half of a fiscal year (year ended December 31, 2024).
Government Regulations
The company's operations are subject to global labor and employment laws, including wage and hour laws, health and safety laws, such as Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and immigration laws. In addition, there are diverse global regulations regarding its contractor workforce.
Product safety standards for stationary fuel cell generators have been established by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). These standards are known as ANSI/CSA FC-1. The company’s products are designed to meet these standards. Further, the company utilizes the Underwriters’ Laboratory, or UL, to certify compliance with these standards. The Energy Server installation guidance is provided by NFPA 853: Standard for the Installation of Stationary Fuel Cell Power Systems. Installations at sites are carried out to meet the requirements of these standards.
History
The company was founded in 2001. The company was incorporated in 2001. The company was formerly known as Ion America Corp. and changed its name to Bloom Energy Corporation in 2006.
