Caterpillar Inc. recently announced the success of its collaboration with Microsoft and Ballard Power Systems to demonstrate the viability of using large-format hydrogen fuel cells to supply reliable and sustainable backup power for data centers. The demonstration provided valuable insights into the capabilities of fuel cell systems to power multi-megawatt data centers, ensuring uninterrupted power supply to meet 99.999% uptime requirements.
The demonstration was conducted in a challenging environment and validated the hydrogen fuel cell power system’s performance at 6,086 ft (1,855 m) above sea level and in below-freezing conditions. The project simulated a 48-hour backup power event at Microsoft's data center in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where a hydrogen fuel cell was integrated into a data center electrical plant to support its critical load. A Caterpillar Microgrid Controller was used to operate two Cat® Power Grid Stabilization (PGS) 1260 battery energy storage systems along with the 1.5 MW hydrogen fuel cell.