With the world’s leading IT companies rushing to develop renewable energy projects to power their giant data centers, Microsoft might be about to take the prize for the most unlikely clean power source – sewage.
U.S. firm FuelCell Energy this week revealed it is working with the IT giant on a trial that could see biogas from a wastewater treatment facility in Wyoming utilized by a fuel cell, providing “ultra-clean and carbon-neutral electricity” to a Microsoft data center.
The initial trial will see one of FuelCell Energy’s 200kW Direct FuelCell (DFC) systems deployed at the Dry Creek Water Reclamation Facility in Cheyenne, Wyo. early next year. The system will then provide power to a modular Microsoft data center, set up to resemble a standard data center environment. Any electricity not used by the data center will be used to help power the water treatment plant, while the system will also provide usable heat for the facility.
Source: GreenBiz
By James Murray