NTT DATA has agreed to deploy 900 MW of Bloom Energy fuel cells across several of its data center projects, the two companies announced on 5 November. NTT Global Data Centers will use the systems as the primary power source, not as backup, and the first shipments are planned for 2027. Bloom calls it its largest international project to date.
What The Release Leaves Open
The announcement names no sites, no countries and no financial terms. It says the modular units can be installed in phases as the buildings go up, and that both companies want to extend the arrangement across NTT's global portfolio towards gigawatt scale. TheEnergyMag notes that the release does not say how much of the 900 MW is firmly ordered, nor which fuel the projects will run on; Bloom's systems can take natural gas, biogas, hydrogen or blends.
Doug Adams, who heads NTT Global Data Centers, said clients are building AI capacity faster than the grid alone can follow, and that speed to power is what counts. He also pointed to low local emissions, little water use and quiet operation. Bloom's commercial chief Aman Joshi framed it the same way: whoever secures power first has the advantage.
Fuel Cells Move Up The List
A year ago, fuel cells at a data center were mostly a pilot or a green add-on. That has changed quickly in the US, where Bloom has a contract with Oracle of 1.2 GW out of a possible 2.8 GW, according to TheEnergyMag, and where utilities have started to build fuel cell plants for single campuses. The NTT deal takes the same model abroad. We covered the Oracle supply in New Mexico in an earlier report.
For the people who plan the rest of the site, the question is what stands behind the fuel cells. A plant used as prime power still needs a plan for maintenance outages and for the day the gas supply is interrupted, and in many jurisdictions that still means engine generator sets, now in a different role and running different hours. The releases say nothing about that part of the design yet. It will be worth reading the permits once the first sites are named.
Sources: NTT DATA and Bloom Energy (Business Wire), TheEnergyMag
