eBay to power its commerce data centre with renewable energy

In a move that aims to boost greener technology, eBay Inc has decided to build the next phase of the company’s flagship data center with renewable energy as its primary power source. The company announced that in partnership with Bloom Energy, it will set up a new 6-MW renewable data center, which will be the largest non-utility fuel cell installation utilising renewable energy in the US.

According to the plans, eBay is designing renewable energy into the core of its global commerce platform, incorporating 30 Bloom Energy servers into the new data center’s energy architecture. As a result, the electric utility grid will be used only as backup. Each of the 30 Bloom Energy servers will generate 1.75 million kWh of electricity each year.

Speaking about company’s green initiatives, John Donahoe, President and CEO of eBay, said that his company believes that the future of commerce can be greener, as the technology-led innovation has brought about a change in retail and has revolutionised how people shop and pay. “We also want to revolutionise how shopping is powered, and we are embracing disruptive energy technology and designing it into our core data center energy architecture. Running our data centers primarily on reliable, renewable energy, we intend to shape a future for commerce that is more environmentally sustainable at its core,” he said.

The installation is being designed and engineered into eBay’s expanded data center facility in Utah, and will be fully functional by mid-2013. The new data centre with Bloom servers will power millions of transactions by eBay’s more than 102 million active users, who generate more than $69 billion in merchandise volume annually

The installation will see eBay expand its existing data center facility in Utah and will be operational from 2013. This is not eBay’s first renewable energy installation, nor is it the first time it has worked with Bloom, but it is by far its largest. The company already operates a 650 kW solar array and a 500 kW Bloom fuel cell installation at its San Jose HQ. There’s also its 100 kW solar array in Denver and its recently opened 665 kW solar array in the same Utah data center that will be expanded in the coming year.