An innovative fuel cell device developed in the Silicon Valley is helping to power part of an office building in the Tennessee Valley and could play an even bigger role in Chattanooga’s manufacturing renaissance, local officials said today.
A 100-kilovolt “Bloom Box” was unveiled today on the roof of the downtown EPB building, where the natural gas-powered fuel cell device is generating electricity to power about 30,000 feet of the 7-story structure.
The pilot devices in Chattanooga and California still require government research assistance and energy subsidies. But Bloom Energy Founder and CEO KR Sridhar said he expects his “Bloom box” to be cost competitive soon, especially in remote areas separated from the electricity grid.
Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey appealed to Mr. Sridhar to make some of the Bloom boxes in Chattanooga by locating a production facility in the Tennessee Valley, rather than just making the units in Silicon Valley.
“We want to manufacture it,” Mr. Ramsey said.