The idea to explore hydrogen fuel cells originated in 2018, when researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO used a proton exchange membrane (PEM) hydrogen fuel cell to power a computer rack. . Mark Monroe, a lead infrastructure engineer on Microsoft’s team for advanced data center development, said his team saw a demonstration and was intrigued by the technology.
Monroe’s team developed a 250-kilowatt fuel cell system, enough to power an entire row of data center servers, and in September 2019 installed it at an Azure data center near Salt Lake City, Utah. In June, the system passed a 48-hour test. The team plans to test a 3-megawatt fuel system below, which matches the size of current diesel-powered backup generators.
An Azure data center may be fully equipped and powered by fuel cells, a hydrogen storage tank, and an electrolyzer that converts water molecules to hydrogen and oxygen, Monroe said. These systems could be integrated with the electricity grid to provide load balancing services. In addition, long-distance hydrogen-powered vehicles could reach data centers to refuel. By continuing to develop hydrogen fuel technology, Microsoft could eventually serve as a model for the use of hydrogen fuel cells elsewhere.
