While officials were quietly confirming that Bloom Energy is planning to break ground this spring on a fuel cell manufacturing plant on University of Delaware property in Newark, equally big news came out of the south.
Technology giant Apple will use Bloom fuel cells, often known as Bloom Boxes at its massive data center in North Carolina.
The project according to the San Jose Mercury News will dwarf other installations Bloom has done, mainly for companies like Google and Adobe Systems in California.
The News Journal also reported ground breaking for the Bloom plant, which could generate more than 1,000 jobs will take place later in the spring. The deadline had been pushed back for unspecified reasons and led to some nervousness in the community. The plant is to be built at the former Chrysler Assembly Plant site.
Bloom could see a boom in the East, due to the low price of natural gas, which fuels the cells. The clean-burning approach can be used by utilities to meet requirements for use of alternate energy.
That does not sit will with some in the environmental community, since natural gas is a fossil fuel. Others on the right see the technology as a scam that will drive up power rates.
HERE’S A LINK to the Mercury News story.
