Proton Urges Data Centres To Consider Fuel Cells

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Green Solution

“We currently have industrial systems up to 100 kilowatts. But if the the client wanted 1 megawatt, then they would simply install ten 100 kilowatt cabinets,” said Melczer. “You will still need some battery capacity, because the fuel cell takes about one minute to become operational. But then it can provide energy for hours and hours. The fuel cell is very interesting because unlike diesel there is no emissions, and it is very green.”

“We are just in the process of finalising a deal with a hardware provider in Germany, as three to four data centres are equipping their sites with fuel cells,” said Melczer. “As I said before, our fuel cell is very green as it is a pure hydrogen fuel cell, that produces water and oxygen, and nothing else.”

Peak Power Alternative?

“One of the problems with some standby power solutions is that you cannot easily stop them, which makes them unsuitable for data centre backup,” said Melczer. “Our fuel cell you can turn off and on, and it is also suitable for powering equipment during peak times as well. If, for example, you arevery close to a hydrogen pipeline then during peak times it would make sense to disconnect from mains electricity and run our fuel cells for three hours during peak loads to save on high electricity costs.”

“The lifetime expectation of our fuel cells is 5,000 hours, but with regular servicing this could be longer,” said Melczer. “We need less space than other traditional battery-based systems and some of our solutions are modular.”

But what about the cost of fuel cells?

“We are aware that for data centres cost is always a major issue, and when you are comparing fuel cells against diesel generators it is hard, because diesel systems are cheaper,” said Melczer. “But we are trying to increase volume which should in turn bring down the cost of fuel cells. The IT industry should expect fuel cell costs to drop when the volume increases.”

“Our partnerships allows us a certain volume, but in two to three years we expect prices to come down because volumes will increase,” concluded Melczer. “Fuel cells are increasingly a viable alternative and it would be very interesting for IT managers and data centre managers to get experience of fuel cells now. They need to start to understand them and how they would be used in their environment, so now is a good time to experiment with fuel cells. You can start small, with say 5 to 10 kilowatts tests, which would not cost the world.”