The COVID-19 crisis is overwhelming existing hospitals, necessitating the deployment of secondary locations to treat patients. Powering these new locations reliably is a pressing challenge that cannot be ignored.

In the first project – at the Vallejo, Calif., site of a national hospital system – Bloom deployed a fuel cell-based microgrid capable of powering a field hospital in the main hospital’s parking lot to accommodate patient overflow, if needed. Bloom already has 1,200 kilowatts of Energy Servers powering the main hospital, and was able to leverage its on-the-ground capabilities to install the microgrid in only three days – five days ahead of schedule. The microgrid is virtually vibration-free and quiet, removing potential shaking related damage to sensitive medical equipment and disruption to the local community. It is compact, occupying only three parking spaces at the site.

“Our modular energy servers were designed with ‘quick time to power’ as an important value proposition. We advanced our rapid deploy microgrid offering greatly after the Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) events last year to help customers affected by the wildfire-related power outages in California,” said Bloom Energy founder, chairman, and CEO, KR Sridhar. “Solving complex technical problems is in our DNA and it is gratifying to the Bloom team that the energy solutions we have spent years developing can be especially useful in this time of national crisis. In the future, we will be able to use this solution for other rapid deploy scenarios for emergency management.”

The State of California called on Bloom to rapidly deploy a primary power energy solution at Sleep Train Arena, the former home of the Sacramento Kings basketball team, where the system will support a field hospital being assembled by the State to treat overflow COVID-19 patients. Bloom has installed a 400-kilowatt fuel cell-based microgrid to power a training facility on-site that will hold approximately 100 hospital beds.

“We partnered with Bloom Energy to quickly provide an on-site, reliable power solution and back-up capabilities,” said California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services deputy director, Ryan Buras. “Bloom’s microgrid solution dramatically reduces electricity costs and greenhouse gas emissions, which fulfills our commitment to providing clean and affordable energy during this pandemic.”

The microgrid will displace diesel generators, which produce particulates and more than 40 toxic air contaminants, including a variety of carcinogenic compounds. The respiratory disease requires clean air systems, and traditional backups like diesel generators create pollution and air quality issues that are harmful to patients. A recent study by researchers at Harvard noted a sharply higher mortality rate among coronavirus patients in areas with even slightly increased levels of air pollution.1

The Sleep Train Arena project was deployed in record time – in less than two weeks rather than months – to support California emergency response activities. The company is working with the State of California and other essential businesses to explore additional opportunities for rapid deployment of energy solutions to support pandemic response efforts.

This effort comes on the heels of the company’s effort to refurbish out-of-service ventilators at the behest of California Governor Gavin Newsom. In just over three weeks, the company has refurbished over 1,200 ventilators at its Sunnyvale, Calif., and Newark, Del., facilities, and estimates it can service 2,000 a week if the need arises. The company is providing refurbished ventilators to states of California, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.

About Bloom Energy

Bloom Energy’s mission is to make clean, reliable energy affordable for everyone in the world. The company’s product, the Bloom Energy Server, delivers highly reliable and resilient, always-on electric power that is clean, cost-effective, and ideal for microgrid applications. Bloom’s customers include many Fortune 100 companies and leaders in manufacturing, data centers, healthcare, retail, higher education, utilities, and other industries.