Diesel fuel accounts for less than 1% of Microsoft\u2019s overall emissions. Its use is primarily confined to Azure datacenters, where, like at most cloud providers around the world, diesel-powered generators support continuous operations in the event of power outages and other service disruptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are expensive. And they sit around and don\u2019t do anything for more than 99% of their life,\u201d said Mark Monroe, a principle infrastructure engineer on Microsoft\u2019s team for datacenter advanced development.<\/p>\n In recent years, hydrogen fuel cell costs have plummeted to the point that they are now an economically viable alternative to diesel-powered backup generators.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the idea of running them on green hydrogen fits right in with our overall carbon commitments,\u201d Monroe said.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, he added, an Azure datacenter outfitted with fuel cells, a hydrogen storage tank and an electrolyzer that converts water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen could be integrated with the electric power grid to provide load balancing services.<\/p>\n For example, the electrolyzer could be turned on during periods of excess wind or solar energy production to store the renewable energy as hydrogen. Then, during periods of high demand, Microsoft could start up the hydrogen fuel cells to generate electricity for the grid.<\/p>\n Hydrogen-powered long-haul vehicles could pullup at datacenters to fill their tanks.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of that infrastructure represents an opportunity for Microsoft to play a role in what will surely be a more dynamic kind of overall energy optimization framework that the world will be deploying over the coming years,\u201d said Lucas Joppa<\/a>, Microsoft\u2019s chief environmental officer.<\/p>\n To further explore how Microsoft can leverage its investment in hydrogen fuel cells and related infrastructure, the company today named Joppa as its representative on the Hydrogen Council<\/a>, a global initiative of leading energy, transport and industry companies to spur the hydrogen economy.<\/p>\n Scientists have already proved that hydrogen fuel cells can be used to generate greenhouse gas-free energy from the most abundant element in the universe, Joppa noted.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know how to do it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe council exists because we don\u2019t necessarily know how to scale the generation of hydrogen, transportation of hydrogen, supply of hydrogen and then consumption of it in the various ways that we would like to. There\u2019s still tons of work that needs to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n Microsoft strives to provide Azure datacenter customers \u201cfive-nines\u201d of service availability, which means that the datacenter is operational 99.999% of the time. Backup generators are fired up during power grid outages and other service interruptions.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t use the diesel generators very much,\u201d Monroe said. \u201cWe start them up once a month to make sure they run and give them a load test once a year to make sure we can transfer load to them correctly, but on average they cover a power outage less than one time per year.\u201d<\/p>\n Microsoft is researching replacement technologies to diesel that would maintain or improve service availability and sees promise in hydrogen fuel cells and batteries, explained Brian Janous, general manager of Microsoft\u2019s team for datacenter energy and sustainability strategy.<\/p>\n \u201cThe work that the team is doing today is really looking at trying to evaluate the feasibility of different solutions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Batteries already supply short-term backup power, filling the 30-second gap between an outage on the grid and the time it takes to power up the diesel generators. More advanced batteries have longer durations.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you get to a scenario where the durations that you require are of such a length that batteries cease to be effective, that\u2019s when you would spill over into looking at something like fuel cells,\u201d Janous said.<\/p>\n The seed for using hydrogen fuel cells for backup power was planted in spring 2018, when researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, powered a rack of computers with a proton exchange membrane, or PEM, hydrogen fuel cell. Monroe and his colleagues were on hand for the demonstration.<\/p>\n \u201cWe got intrigued because we knew that they were using an automotive fuel cell,\u201d Monroe said. \u201cAn automotive fuel cell has the reaction time like a diesel generator does. It can turn on quickly. It can be ready for a full load within seconds. You can floor it, let it off, let it idle.\u201d<\/p>\n PEM fuel cells combine hydrogen and oxygen in a process that produces water vapor and electricity. Automotive companies are developing the technology to power cars, trucks and other vehicles. After the demonstration, Microsoft started thinking about using fuel cells for backup power at datacenters.<\/p>\n Monroe\u2019s team procured a 250-kilowatt fuel cell system, which is sufficient to power a full row, on the order of 10 racks, of datacenter servers. Tests began at Power Innovations, the system developer, outside Salt Lake City in September 2019. The system passed the 24-hour endurance test that December; the 48-hour test this June.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is the largest computer backup power system that we know that is running on hydrogen and it has run the longest continuous test,\u201d Monroe said.<\/p>\n The next step for the team is to procure and test a 3-megawatt fuel cell system, which is on par with the size of diesel-powered backup generators at Azure datacenters.<\/p>\n![\"Lucas](\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/microsoft-tests-hydrogen-fuel-cells-for-backup-power-at-datacenters.jpg\")
Replacements for diesel<\/h2>\n
![\"Mark](\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/microsoft-tests-hydrogen-fuel-cells-for-backup-power-at-datacenters-1.jpg\")
Proof of concept<\/h2>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/microsoft-tests-hydrogen-fuel-cells-for-backup-power-at-datacenters-2.jpg\")
Fuel cell explorations<\/h2>\n
![\"Brian](\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/microsoft-tests-hydrogen-fuel-cells-for-backup-power-at-datacenters-3.jpg\")