Baker Hughes, an energy technology company, and Bloom Energy, a leader in distributed energy, have agreed on May 5 to collaborate on the potential commercialization and deployment of integrated, low carbon power-generation and hydrogen solutions to advance the energy transition.

Baker Hughes and Bloom Energy will begin collaborating on potential customer engagements immediately, with the objective of launching pilot projects over the next two to three years and fully commercializing and scaling applications, products and solutions shortly thereafter. The companies will focus efforts in three areas:

By leveraging Bloom Energy’s solid oxide fuel cell technology (SOFC) and Baker Hughes’ light-weight gas turbine technology, the companies intend to provide efficient, resilient, and cost-effective solutions for cleaner energy generation, waste heat recovery, and grid independent power for customers.

Bloom Energy’s efficient and low emissions SOFCs, Baker Hughes’ efficient and flexible NovaLT gas turbines—which can run on up to 100% hydrogen—along with heat recovery turbines can create resilient microgrids ideal for large-scale applications.

The companies will explore opportunities to pair Bloom Energy’s solid oxide electrolyzer cells (SOEC) that can produce 100% clean hydrogen with Baker Hughes’ compression technology for efficient production, compression, transport, and delivery of hydrogen. Waste heat utilization for steam generation will also be assessed to further increase efficiency and cost effectiveness of hydrogen production. The companies will target applications such as blending hydrogen into natural gas pipelines, as well as on-site hydrogen production for industrial use. These efforts are geared toward accelerating the transition to the hydrogen economy.

Bloom Energy’s SOEC technology coupled with Baker Hughes’ compression technology could facilitate faster adoption of hydrogen in process industries such as steel refining, where the use of heat recovery from the steel-making process could deliver higher overall system efficiencies and customer value.

The companies will assess opportunities to leverage Baker Hughes’ broad technology portfolio and Bloom Energy’s SOFC and SOEC solutions. In addition to hydrogen and clean power, areas of collaboration may include carbon capture and emissions monitoring technologies, digital solutions, and additive manufacturing capabilities.

Baker Hughes is a leader in turbomachinery solutions designed for a wide variety of applications across the energy value chain and providing fuel flexibility. For hydrogen, Baker Hughes provides compression and energy conversion technology and services that are used across the value chain worldwide, including production, transportation and utilization. Bloom Energy’s modular and fuel-flexible energy server platform can use biogas and hydrogen, in addition to natural gas, to create electricity at significantly higher efficiencies than traditional resources. In addition, Bloom Energy’s fuel cell technology can be used to create hydrogen, which is increasingly recognized as a critically important tool to enable the full decarbonization of the energy economy.

“The path to net-zero carbon emissions must include partnerships and collaboration,” Uwem Ukpong, executive vice president of regions, alliances, and enterprise sales at Baker Hughes, said. “At the core of our collaboration agreement with Bloom Energy is the potential to develop integrated technology offerings for commercialization and deployment of smarter, cleaner, and more economic energy solutions. It’s a great example of how Baker Hughes is strategically pursuing ways to advance new energy frontiers and invest for growth in the industrial marketplace.”