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That is very cool. I am surprised the cost came in under diesel generators, was it for noise/space/pollution more than cost? If they're legitimately cheaper for

That is very cool. I am surprised the cost came in under diesel generators, was it for noise/space/pollution more than cost? If they're legitimately cheaper for the same kW's as a diesel generator that's a different picture. I still probably wouldn't use one as a portable generator but I'd definitely consider it as power backing for a hospital in a dense area where a big enough generator wasn't feasible (if it were in fact smaller). Edit: I'm going to assume that if you pay for it you can get the kind of redundancy and automatic switching controls too with a diesel generator, I'm not actually positive they exist but I'd figure they would for the right price.

ChuckMcM 6y ago
First, disclaimer, this was a while ago so the current data may be different (better or worse) but at the time, if you did the total cost of ownership thing, they were on a par with buying your power from natural gas 'peaker' plant and that was cheaper than a diesel generator. The diesel generator requires more maintenance than the Bloom boxes did. There are also the switchover circuity and battery bank that was required to hold up the data center between grid power loss and diesel startup. You can kill a modern data center by having a second power event before the standby batteries have enough charge to support another switch over. (which is why at least one company's data center stays on diesel until the batteries are recharged even if grid power returns).
- neltnerb 6y ago
  Oh yeah, I suppose a lot more moving parts in a mechanical generator, I can see it ending up more reliable than a generator. Seems unlikely to be more reliable than a battery backup system but I bet those battery sizes aren't nearly big enough (having lived quite a weird life and having actually researched industrial battery backup systems from GE too for some reason). I can definitely see it making sense. Main downside I'd see is that if you're talking SF, I bet you the next earthquake takes out natural gas. If it's something important like a hospital that might be reason enough to have a big diesel generator since I know diesel fuel is so dense and you can ship it by truck if you have to. I don't really know how important your datacenter is in a disaster =) I mean, honestly I mostly looked hard at Bloom before they left stealth mode but I kinda researched the same kind of stuff that they did in grad school and I'd be totally shocked if they were operating under 350C. Probably more like 500-600C. If they had a major technical innovation I would imagine it's around decreasing the temperature that iron is catalytically active at but the solid electrolyte still needs to be hot enough to have good ionic conductivity. My stuff from ages ago on this vague sort of thing: https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/59228 https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/59228

ChuckMcM 6y ago

First, disclaimer, this was a while ago so the current data may be different (better or worse) but at the time, if you did the total cost of ownership thing, they were on a par with buying your power from natural gas 'peaker' plant and that was cheaper than a diesel generator. The diesel generator requires more maintenance than the Bloom boxes did. There are also the switchover circuity and battery bank that was required to hold up the data center between grid power loss and diesel startup. You can kill a modern data center by having a second power event before the standby batteries have enough charge to support another switch over. (which is why at least one company's data center stays on diesel until the batteries are recharged even if grid power returns).

neltnerb 6y ago
Oh yeah, I suppose a lot more moving parts in a mechanical generator, I can see it ending up more reliable than a generator. Seems unlikely to be more reliable than a battery backup system but I bet those battery sizes aren't nearly big enough (having lived quite a weird life and having actually researched industrial battery backup systems from GE too for some reason). I can definitely see it making sense. Main downside I'd see is that if you're talking SF, I bet you the next earthquake takes out natural gas. If it's something important like a hospital that might be reason enough to have a big diesel generator since I know diesel fuel is so dense and you can ship it by truck if you have to. I don't really know how important your datacenter is in a disaster =) I mean, honestly I mostly looked hard at Bloom before they left stealth mode but I kinda researched the same kind of stuff that they did in grad school and I'd be totally shocked if they were operating under 350C. Probably more like 500-600C. If they had a major technical innovation I would imagine it's around decreasing the temperature that iron is catalytically active at but the solid electrolyte still needs to be hot enough to have good ionic conductivity. My stuff from ages ago on this vague sort of thing: https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/59228 https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/59228