Bloom Energy’s founder, K.R. Sridhar, recently appeared on Maria Bartiromo’s show on Fox Business.  He touted Bloom Energy as a viable solution to President Trump’s declaration of a national energy emergency.  But as we approach the thirteenth anniversary of Delaware’s investment in Bloom Energy, it is time for the Meyer Administration to pull the plug on this energy debacle.

Under the Markell Administration, then DNREC Secretary Collin O’Mara engineered a sweetheart deal with Bloom Energy of San Jose, California—the same city for which O’Mara was the clean tech strategist.

The deal O’Mara struck with Bloom Energy was very favorable to the upstart energy company.  The University of Delaware would build a 240,000 ft² manufacturing facility on their STAR campus and Bloom Energy would occupy the building for twenty-five years at a rent of $1 per year.  Moreover, Bloom Energy would receive more than $30M in grants from the State and a surcharge guarantee that would last for twenty-one years.

In exchange, Bloom Energy was to have spent at least $50M in the development of six other buildings to encourage like businesses to locate in the University’s STAR campus.  To date, none of this has occurred.  They also were to have employed 900 workers by September 30, 2016, or as Governor Markell said, “it will bring an estimated 1,500 manufacturing, supply chain and construction jobs to the region”—to date, Bloom Energy still has not employed even 800 workers.  Note too that this sweetheart deal was spurred, in part, by the loss of more than 6,000 jobs due to the closure of the Boxwood Road and Newark Automobile facilities.

To pay for this, Delmarva Power ratepayers’ foot the bill by the addition of a “Qualified Fuel Cells Renewable Compliance Charge” on the delivery charge, not the supply charge, of their monthly electric bill.  To date, ratepayers have shelled out more than $405 million to Bloom Energy.  Adding what state and federal taxpayers have funneled to Bloom Energy as subsidies, the grand total of the Bloom Energy giveaway so far is more than $580 million.

Bloom Energy argued that their fuel cells are renewable energy and Governor Markell said that the surcharge was necessary to achieve the State’s goal of having 25% of its energy come from renewable energy by 2025 and 40% by 2035.  The Institute for Energy Research in Washington DC noted that rate-payer subsidies to a private energy business is “unusual.”  “This is a serious sweetheart deal,” the IER vice-president of policy said.

Asserting that it is green energy, the State of Delaware leveraged funds from the Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards Act (REPSA) by “allowing energy output from Delaware-manufactured [Bloom Energy] fuel cells to be considered a resource eligible to fulfill a portion of the REPSA [requirements].”

But Bloom Energy’s fuel cells are neither clean nor green.  They utilize natural gas in their production of energy, just as a combined-cycle natural gas power plant does; although it is cheaper to build a natural gas power plant and the energy produced by it is much cheaper than what ratepayers are charged for Bloom’s electrons.  In 2021, electricity from Bloom Energy’s fuel cells cost 5½ times more than electricity generated by a natural gas power plant.  Moreover, a study conducted at the University of Delaware concluded that Bloom Energy “overstated the efficiency of its fuel cells by as much as 20% in public disclosures.”

Remember that in July of 2014, the Data Center project was rejected owing to its requirement for a natural gas plant to be constructed at the STAR campus.  As the University stated, “Given the University’s commitment to reduced carbon emissions, and its strong reputation in renewable and carbon-free energy research, the emplacement of a fossil-fuel based facility of this size does not appear consistent with UD’s vision of a first class science and technology campus.”  An odd reason given that at the STAR campus, Bloom Energy was already producing natural-gas-based fuel cells that are less efficient and generate more carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour than the proposed natural gas plant.

And yes, since Bloom Energy’s fuel cells utilize natural gas as a fuel source, carbon dioxide is produced as a by-product.  While Bloom Energy contends that their fuel cells emit only 700 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour, after just two years of use, their fuel cells exceed 825 pounds.  Think about that…Delaware pretends that Bloom’s fuel cells are green, renewable energy when, in reality, they emit more carbon dioxide per megawatt hour than a combined cycle natural gas plant does.

Moreover, Bloom Energy’s fuel cells produce hazardous waste as a byproduct.  Natural gas contains dangerous elements and compounds, such as benzine, carbonyl sulfide, hydrogen sulfide, arsenic, lead, and chromium.  Delaware does not track the transport of these compounds to hazardous waste facilities although manifests have been discovered that indicate Bloom Energy indeed ships this hazardous waste from its Newark facility to Indiana.

In late 2020, the US EPA fined Bloom Energy $1.37M for mishandling hazardous materials originating in Delaware but the fine was kept secret.  Senator Murkowski of Alaska loaned her US Senate Energy Committee’s special counsel to Bloom Energy from 2018 until 2020 so he could minimize Bloom Energy’s fines to the EPA and assist Bloom Energy in hiding their hazardous waste in which O’Mara and DNREC were complicit.  Indeed, O’Mara gave testimony under oath to the Delaware Public Service Commission that Bloom Energy was clean energy when he knew that Bloom Energy generated hazardous materials and emitted more carbon dioxide than what they claimed in their marketing brochures and website.

In summary, rather than being efficient, green, and affordable, Bloom Energy fuel cells emit more pollution and the electricity they generate costs more than five times as much as a state-of-the-art natural gas plant.  Moreover, they are being used as part of the Delaware Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards Act (REPSA) even though they are based on natural gas—a fossil fuel.

Furthermore, Bloom Energy has lied about the hazardous waste produced by their fuel cells, and they continue to lie—aided by the State of Delaware—about how the hazardous waste is treated and to where it is shipped.  Shipping hazardous waste around the country without proper documentation is a fundamental health concern for first responders and citizens alike.

The Markell-O’Mara deal to bring Bloom Energy to Delaware has been a complete and utter disaster for all Delawareans and the ratepayers of Delmarva Power.  It’s time to pull the plug on this boondoggle that has plagued Delaware for more than a decade.

This article first appeared in A Better Delaware and is reprinted here by permission.

Illustration by OpenAI/ChatGPT.