Bloom Energy enters German market with SOFCs deal

Bloom Energy, SK ecoplant’s U.S.-based hydrogen business partner, will supply solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) to a German energy company, making a foray into the country for the first time.

The latest market expansion may spell new opportunities for SK ecoplant too, which currently holds 4.9 percent of the U.S. company.

Bloom Energy, the California-based hydrogen fuel cell supplier, has signed a contract with a subsidiary of Energie Baden-Wüerttemberg (EnBW), a German energy company, to supply its 300-kilowatt SOFC installations for heat supply, SK ecoplant said Monday.

It is the first time the U.S. company has supplied its SOFCs in Germany. SOFCs are electrochemical devices that convert the chemical energy of fuel and an oxidant directly into electrical energy.

Bloom Energy has previously signed SOFC supply deals with Italy’s Ferrari, the United Kingdom’s Perenco and Latvia’s Elugie.

SK ecoplant and Bloom Energy have been working together on fuel cell projects both in Korea and overseas since 2018. The two companies established a joint venture, Bloom SK Fuel Cell, in 2020, and opened a manufacturing plant for solid oxide fuel cells in Gumi, North Gyeongsang in October 2020. Bloom SK Fuel Cell is 49 percent owned by SK ecoplant and 51 percent by Bloom Energy.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]