Partnership Ballard and Vertiv

Based on industry-ready components, Vertiv’s demonstrated Power Module H2 solution at their Delaware, Ohio facility integrates two Ballard FCwave™-PowerGen 200kW fuel cell cabinets, which power the fully functional decarbonized back-up system. The solution encompasses a complete cooling sub-system, power conditioning equipment and hydrogen storage infrastructure integrated with Vertiv™ HPL Lithium-Ion batteries, Liebert® EXL S1 UPS system and the Vertiv™ DynaFlex Energy Management Controller. The Power Module H2 solution is part of the 1MW Vertiv Customer Experience Center microgrid solution including a 1MW AC Solar PV array and Vertiv™ DynaFlex Battery Energy Storage System (BESS).

During the collaborative effort, the teams were able to carry out initial validation and testing of the Power Module H2 solution with the objective to deliver a 100% reliable Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) with unrestricted hours of zero-emission back-up power - the challenge of a first-time integration of Ballard and Vertiv's “turn-key” fuel cell system solution on an industry-ready component level.

Visit Vertiv and Ballard Power Systems at Booth 436 in Hall B2 at Smarter e in Munich from June 19-21, 2024.

Zero-emission fuel cells for uninterrupted backup power for data centers 

Thomas T. Petersen

Data centers play a critical role for businesses,  public service providers and the overall general public alike – the importance of  data centers will further increase as we become more dependent on digital infrastructure. Constant and reliable power is essential to deliver secure and reliable data center services to customers. Today, most data centers rely on diesel generators to provide the needed backup power provisions.

In contradiction to the incumbent Diesel generators used today, a (PEM) fuel cell (FC) consuming green hydrogen (H2) generates fully zero emission electrical power. The H2FC power generator can even freely operate, in case of higher grid cost, as a primary generator or insufficient grid supply the H2FC generator turns from a standby into an additional asset for the data center operator, which can result in lower energy costs for the operator. 

An uninterrupted power system powered by fuel cells can connect and disconnect from the grid. Depending on the grid’s operational health, it can form an independent electrical “island” if disconnected from the utility. In addition, this backup microgrid reduces vulnerability caused by utility outages by using several connected distributed energy storage resources. An Energy Storage System stores the energy and provides it on demand.  In case of a power outage, the uninterrupted power system will provide immediate protection by switching to energy stored in batteries. Should the power outage take place over a longer period, hydrogen powered fuel cells will produce electricity for the backup power system for as long as hydrogen is available. 

In this presentation the alternative solution to enable continued growth while also adhering to environmental restrictions and regulations is shown.  Assuming the use of green hydrogen, fuel cells provide stable, efficient, reliable, and clean backup power solutions for datacenters.  

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