Horizon has unveiled its latest 3-MW fuel cell modules for data center backup. Each 3-MW module has a footprint of just one 40-ft container, delivering 100% more power than similarly sized PEM fuel cells, and at least 300% more power than most solid oxide fuel cells. The small footprint is achieved by incorporating the company’s groundbreaking 400-kW fuel cell stacks that are already powering heavy duty vehicles with heretofore unseen efficiency.

The 3-MW module is the highest power and power density fuel cell stationary power module ever launched, saving space and reducing costs for data centers operators. With pure water as the only byproduct, such fuel cell modules provide customers a truly zero emission, scalable power solution.

Horizon also offers a 1-ton H₂ storage system in a 40-ft container. Multiple units of the storage container can provide 8 hr–48 hr of backup, requiring modest investment for added backup duration. The optional electrolyzer from Horizon can replenish the onsite storage automatically with cheap off-peak grid power, leading to lower operating costs than diesel generators. Horizon expects this solution to reach total cost of ownership (TCO) parity with diesel generators in volume.

During the last five years, Horizon’s MW-scale power solutions have been deployed in chemical complexes where waste H₂ was available to generate power and reduce merchant purchases of electricity, curbing increasing power bills.

There is a growing global challenge supplying reliable energy to burgeoning demands from artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, with both primary and backup power solutions being stretched, and more sustainable approaches are being sought by project developers and hyper scalers alike.

With fuel cell technology hitting critical mass, there is great potential to deploy clean backup power solutions in place of traditional “dirty” incumbent solutions such as diesel generators, which are facing increasing scrutiny from regulators, even when used as backup.

Fuel cell backup power solutions avert the need for polluting diesel run-tests, eliminate risks of fuel spillage and the expense of periodic stale fuel replacement. Fuel cell backup power solutions can also replace both backup generators and UPS, which together represent significant investment for data center operators.