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Faced with escalating power outages and an increased risk of interruptions to its precision manufacturing operations, Silicon Valley’s JSR Micro, Inc. has selected Bloom Energy (NYSE:BE) to deploy a microgrid to provide its primary power. JSR Micro is a subsidiary of JSR Corporation, a multinational company employing more than 7,500 people worldwide, and a leading materials supplier in a variety of technology driven markets.
The microgrid at JSR Micro will draw on-site electric power from Bloom Energy Servers. It will enable the company’s manufacturing, test and measurement, and other facilities to operate independently of the grid. JSR Micro expects to significantly reduce its electricity costs and its carbon footprint over the lifetime of the deployment.
JSR Micro develops electronic materials for the semiconductor industry and its advanced manufacturing operations are highly sensitive to even small power interruptions. Following persistent challenges with the reliability of its grid power supply, the company decided to implement a microgrid that would insulate it from the vulnerabilities of the conventional grid transmission and distribution system.
“Our technology supports some of the greatest breakthroughs in advanced electronic materials,” said Eric Johnson, President, JSR Micro, Inc. “The quality of our manufacturing, and therefore the reliability of our electricity supply, are fundamental to the success of our, and our customers’, operations. We’re taking a major step in ensuring continuity of our electricity supply with the Bloom Energy microgrid.”
California ranks highest among all U.S. states by number of power outages, according to the Eaton Blackout Tracker. In 2017, 438 separate outage events caused by weather, falling trees, faulty equipment, human error and other causes resulted in more than 25,000 minutes or 17 days of outages across the state. There has been a steady increase in the number of outages during the past decade, leading organizations to seek out microgrids powered by distributed energy resources (DER).
JSR Micro’s new Bloom Energy Microgrid will deliver 1.1MW of mission critical electric power. The system is designed to provide 99.99% availability and enable JSR Micro to continue operations even if the electrical utility grid fails. The microgrid is expected to be operational by the end of 2018.
“High-tech manufacturing requires high-quality, reliable electricity that is always-on,” said KR Sridhar, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Bloom Energy. “Bloom is proud to provide this service to JSR Micro, and to do so sustainably and in way that saves them money.”
The Bloom Energy Server converts natural gas or biogas fuel into electricity without combustion, using solid oxide fuel cell technology. It delivers always-on 24/7 power in an extremely compact, energy-dense platform and uses less fuel to generate more electricity than a conventional power plant. It also generates cleaner electricity, with almost 60% less CO2 emissions than the average of the U.S. power generation portfolio. Because there is no combustion, there are also virtually no smog-forming particulate emissions.
The Bloom Energy Server avoids the vulnerabilities of conventional transmission and distribution lines by generating power on-site, where the electricity is consumed. The system operates at very high availability due to its modular and fault-tolerant design, which includes multiple independent power generation modules that can be hot-swapped. Bloom Energy Servers utilize underground natural gas infrastructure, which is not susceptible to the impact of severe weather.