CRC and Bloom Energy Target 1GW of Fuel Cells for California Data Centers

California Resources Corporation (CRC) and Bloom Energy want to build 1GW or more of fuel cell generation in California. Data centers sit high on the list of target customers.

The two companies signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding. It covers deployment of Bloom's solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) paired with carbon capture systems. No firm capacity, timeline, or contract value is attached yet.

Bloom builds stationary generators known as the Bloom Box. They convert fuel into electricity through an electrochemical process, without combustion. Hydrogen can power them, but today the vast majority run on natural gas.

What does the plan actually cover?

The scope splits into two categories:

• Front-of-the-meter projects in Central and Northern California, connected to utility offtake.
• Behind-the-meter projects across CRC's Central Valley footprint, serving industrial users that want on-site power.

The partners will hunt for offtake customers among data centers, utilities, community choice aggregators, municipalities, and other industrial users. They have also committed to completing the interconnection and permitting work needed to bring projects online, which is often the slowest part of any California generation build.

The division of labor is clear. Bloom supplies the fuel cells plus third-party carbon capture technology. CRC manages the projects. Its carbon management business, Carbon TerraVault (CTV), handles CO2 transport and storage.

How does the carbon capture claim work?

The mechanism is the core of the pitch. Bloom's fuel cells produce a high-concentration CO2 exhaust stream, the companies said. That concentration, they claim, makes capture more efficient and cheaper than scrubbing dilute flue gas from a combustion plant.

The scale is significant. The partners said up to three million metric tons of CO2 per annum could be captured and stored through the program.

CRC's position rests on its physical assets. "California needs more clean, firm, reliable, and affordable power generated here at home. We are uniquely positioned with land, vast subsurface storage, and CO2 transportation and storage expertise," said Francisco Leon, CRC's president and CEO. "When combined with Bloom's non-combustion technology with highly efficient carbon capture, we are positioned to deliver clean and affordable energy to power data centers and the grid at scale."

Aman Joshi, Bloom's chief commercial officer, framed the efficiency argument in similar terms. "Our non-combustion technology makes carbon capture more efficient and economically viable at scale, opening a new path to carbon-neutral power generation and addressing the decarbonization needs of large critical infrastructure," he said.

Where does this fit in Bloom's data center pipeline?

Bloom has signed a string of data-center deals in recent years, and the track record is mixed.

• Oracle: Earlier this year, Bloom expanded an agreement to supply up to 2.8GW of capacity, on top of an initial 1.2GW deal signed last year. Deployments at Oracle's Jupiter data center in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, have hit roadblocks over opposition to extending the gas pipeline expected to feed the facility's fuel cells.
• Equinix: Deployments across 19 data centers exceeding 100MW of combined capacity.
• American Electric Power (AEP): An agreement for up to 1GW of SOFCs to power AI data centers off-grid. In October, AEP signed a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement with Google for 702MW from a fuel cell project near Cheyenne, Wyoming, using Bloom's fuel cells.

What does this change for California's power market?

The MOU is non-binding, so nothing is certain yet. But the structure matters. It pairs behind-the-meter generation for power-hungry industrial loads with utility-scale supply, all under a carbon capture umbrella that could ease permitting in a state with strict climate rules. The New Mexico pipeline fight shows the model's weak point: most Bloom boxes still need gas, and gas infrastructure faces local resistance. If CRC can deliver storage and transport for three million tons of CO2 a year, the California program would test whether fuel cells plus capture can scale beyond single-site deals.