The natural gas sticking point
Compared to the original plan for gas turbines, the deployment of 2.45 gigawatts of fuel cells could reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by more than 90 percent and “substantially” reduce the amount of other air pollutants, like carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide, according to Julia Robin, VP of networking and data capacity management at Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, in a commentary published in the Santa Fe New Mexican.
The Bloom Energy fuel cell technology also has the flexibility to operate on cleaner fuels like hydrogen or biogas, along with being more compatible with carbon-capture systems. Robin suggested that this technology could “give Project Jupiter a more flexible path as lower-carbon fuels and carbon-capture infrastructure develop.”
Oracle’s renewables announcement was also accompanied by a $1 million pledge to fund research on carbon capture and sequestration, with a focus on storing and potentially harnessing the carbon dioxide produced by the Bloom Energy fuel cells.
But for now, fuel cells powering Project Jupiter will still use natural gas because it is “available and reliable, especially in this region of the country,” Robin wrote.
The Project Jupiter switch from gas turbines to fuel cells would significantly reduce local air pollution and emissions. Yet the continued reliance on natural gas means that “even with the new plan, the data center could be the largest source of emissions in the state,” Thomas at Cleanview pointed out.
Oracle’s new effort to invest in 2 gigawatts of new renewable energy projects could benefit New Mexico. But the Project Jupiter commitment to achieving “100 percent carbon-free energy matching by 2031” does not directly mitigate the data center’s emissions from the fuel cells using natural gas.