Fuel cells are powering AI data center demand: they’ve moved from interesting clean tech to major player. How are utilities using them?

About this episode

The episode discusses the role of fuel cells in meeting the energy demands of AI data centers and their implications for utilities and energy policy.

US data centre announcements are averaging 435MW a month, and there’s around 175GW of large-load capacity already committed or under construction. AI hyperscalers are looking for innovative ways to meet their energy demands. It’s one of the biggest infrastructure challenges in energy right now: how to deliver reliable, fast power without derailing climate and decarbonisation goals. Joining interim host Bridget van Dorsten is Akhil Batheja, Director of Technology Strategy at Bloom Energy, to unpack why fuel cells have moved from “interesting clean technology” to the epicentre of the data-centre power conversation - and what that shift means for utilities, energy projects, and energy policy. Together they discuss how solid oxide fuel cells differ from turbines, engines and batteries - from efficiency and permitting advantages to “Lego block” scalability - and why “time to power” is becoming the defining metric for data center owners. Bridget and Akhil explore grid resilience and the realities of operating off-grid campuses, how fuel cells can handle spiky AI workloads using supercapacitors, and why a future high-voltage DC architecture could reshape data-centre efficiency. Finally…

People in this episode

Host: Bridget van Dorsten

Guest: Akhil Batheja

Topics covered

• fuel cells
• AI data centers
• energy demand
• utilities
• decarbonisation
• grid resilience
• clean technology

Keywords

• fuel cells
• AI hyperscalers
• energy infrastructure
• solid oxide fuel cells
• grid resilience
• clean fuels
• energy finance

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Bloom Energy

More episodes of Interchange Recharged

• The grid's missing operating system: Why a $100,000 AI controller could defer trillions in hardware and why utilities won't buy it · June 2, 2026 · 44 min
• The grid's immune system is retiring: Synchronous condensers, AI data centers and the physics gap that software alone can't close · May 19, 2026 · 1h 2m
• Beyond combustion: Long Island's first hydrogen-powered linear generator and the fuel-flexible answer to the dispatchable emissions-free resource problem · May 5, 2026 · 40 min
• The electrolyzer reckoning: Can disciplined product development deliver on green hydrogen's promise before the survivors run out of runway? · April 21, 2026 · 1h 0m
• Flexibility as a service: Can Octopus's acquisition of Uplight finally make US residential VPPs work? · April 7, 2026 · 45 min
• The muscle we forgot: SMRs, hyperscalers, and why this nuclear renaissance might actually be different · March 24, 2026 · 56 min