Bloom Energy to Build Fuel-Cell Power Plant for a Korean Utility

(Bloomberg) -- Bloom Energy Corp., a U.S. maker of electricity-generating fuel cells, was awarded a contract to provide a power unit for a utility in South Korea, the world’s biggest user of the technology.

The 8.35-megawatt unit will use a chemical process to convert natural gas into electricity for customers of Korea South-East Power Co., Sunnyvale, California-based Bloom Energy said in a statement Thursday. The project will help the utility meet a requirement that it use increasing amounts of renewable and clean energy.

It’s the first sale for Bloom Energy in South Korea, which has focused on fuel cells in areas where rough terrain limits the feasibility of wind turbines and large solar farms. The world’s largest fuel-cell power plant was installed there by FuelCell Energy Inc. to provide 59 megawatts to Posco, the country’s largest steelmaker.

SK Engineering & Construction Co. will help install the fuel-cell modules, which will be assembled in Delaware from cell stacks made in California. The company is in talks with utilities in Korea for more fuel cell plants, Asim Hussain, vice president of marketing at Bloom Energy, said in an interview.

“We get more power out of a smaller footprint, which means a lot in Korea,” Hussain said. “We think we’re very competitive because of our energy density and efficiency.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Martin in New York at cmartin11@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Doan at ldoan6@bloomberg.net, Steve Stroth, Joe Ryan

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.