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Equinix and partners are set to develop fuel cells for data centers through EcoEdge PrimePower (E2P2), a seven-member, EU-backed demonstration project announced on December 14, 2021. The project combines solid-oxide fuel cells, UPS equipment, batteries, gas and water treatment, and controls at Equinix’s ML5 facility near Milan; it is not proof that Equinix is manufacturing a commercial fuel-cell product.
E2P2 is best understood as a data-center prime-power architecture rather than a standalone fuel-cell design. The consortium is testing whether fuel cells can provide resilient electricity at urban or grid-constrained facilities while reducing local pollution and, depending on the fuel, lowering carbon emissions.
Key takeaways
- E2P2 is a seven-organization consortium announced by Equinix on December 14, 2021, with approximately €2.5 million in support from the European Union’s Clean Hydrogen Partnership.
- The project uses two 45-kilowatt solid-oxide fuel-cell systems, giving the demonstrator an approximately 90-kilowatt nominal fuel-cell rating before auxiliary loads and system-level operating conditions.
- The demonstration site is Equinix’s ML5 data center in Settimo Milanese, near Milan, Italy, where major components passed factory acceptance testing and were delivered for integration.
- E2P2 treats fuel cells as prime power and integrates them with UPS equipment, lithium-ion batteries, electrical controls, gas treatment, and water treatment; it is not merely a backup generator project.
- “Low-carbon” does not automatically mean zero-carbon: natural-gas operation still produces carbon dioxide, while the climate impact of biogas and hydrogen depends on their production and supply chains.
- E2P2 remains a demonstration and development project in the available official reporting, separate from Equinix’s commercial Bloom Energy deployments in the United States.
What did Equinix and its partners actually announce?
Equinix and its partners announced the EcoEdge PrimePower consortium, abbreviated E2P2, on December 14, 2021. The EU-backed project was designed to develop and demonstrate a low-carbon, resilient prime-power system for data centers using solid-oxide fuel cells and supporting electrical infrastructure.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsThe announcement did not mean that Equinix had created a fuel-cell manufacturing business. Equinix’s role was primarily that of data-center operator, operational expert, and demonstration host. Specialist consortium members contributed fuel-cell technology, research, gas and water treatment, energy-infrastructure knowledge, and electrical-system integration. The original Equinix announcement describes the consortium, its technology concept, EU support, and intended demonstration near Milan.
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The project received approximately €2.5 million in EU support through the Clean Hydrogen Partnership. The European Commission identifies the project under CORDIS project ID 101007219.
Who are the seven E2P2 partners?
The seven E2P2 organizations combine data-center operations, research, energy infrastructure, fuel-cell manufacturing, fuel treatment, and power-management expertise. The roles below are deliberately described as project roles rather than implying that every organization supplied a complete standalone product.
| Partner | Role in the project |
|---|---|
| Equinix | Data-center operator, demonstration host, and provider of operational and deployment expertise. |
| InfraPrime | Consortium and infrastructure-development participant. |
| RISE Research Institutes of Sweden | Research and validation partner and project coordinator. |
| Snam | Energy-infrastructure and gas-network expertise. |
| SOLIDpower / SolydEra | Fuel-cell technology supplier. Later project reporting identifies SolydEra as the developer of the 45-kilowatt systems. |
| TEC4FUELS | Gas-treatment and water-treatment systems. |
| Vertiv | Electrical infrastructure, UPS equipment, batteries, and control-system integration. |
The company name requires a qualification. Equinix’s 2021 announcement used SOLIDpower, while later E2P2 reporting refers to SolydEra and attributes the 45-kilowatt systems to SolydEra. The two names should not be presented as unrelated project partners without explaining that the project documentation reflects a naming transition.
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E2P2 targeted prime power because data centers need continuous, high-quality electricity, while many urban facilities face limits on grid capacity, utility-connection schedules, available land, emissions, and noise. On-site generation could reduce dependence on constrained distribution infrastructure and provide another route to adding capacity.
Data centers traditionally use grid electricity during normal operation and rely on generators, often diesel-powered, when the grid fails. E2P2 explored a different architecture: fuel cells would provide the main or prime source of electricity, while UPS equipment and batteries would support power quality and continuity.
The concept is especially relevant where a new substation or grid connection could take a long time, where local air-quality rules restrict combustion equipment, or where noise-sensitive surroundings make conventional engine generators difficult to permit. These advantages are potential site-level benefits, not guarantees for every fuel-cell installation.
What is the difference between prime power, backup power, and UPS power?
Prime power is the main electricity source used during normal data-center operation. Backup generation supplies electricity when the grid is unavailable or insufficient. A UPS combines batteries and power electronics to bridge short interruptions, stabilize voltage and frequency, and give generation equipment time to respond.
| Power layer | Purpose | E2P2 relevance |
|---|---|---|
| Prime power | Supplies the facility’s normal operating load. | Solid-oxide fuel cells were being developed as a prime-power source. |
| UPS and batteries | Bridge interruptions and manage power quality. | The demonstrator includes UPS equipment and lithium-ion batteries. |
| Backup generation | Provides longer-duration power when the grid or prime source is unavailable. | E2P2’s architecture must be assessed as a complete resilience system; the project should not be reduced to a fuel-cell backup generator. |
This distinction matters because a fuel-cell system can generate electricity without necessarily replacing every other layer of a data-center power design. Availability, fault tolerance, maintenance procedures, switchgear, batteries, controls, and fuel continuity all affect facility resilience.
How would the E2P2 system work?
The proposed power path is:
Fuel supply → gas treatment → solid-oxide fuel-cell modules → electrical conversion and controls → UPS and battery integration → data-center load
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Fuel cells generate electricity electrochemically rather than by burning fuel in a conventional reciprocating engine. E2P2’s architecture adds the equipment needed to make that electricity suitable for a critical data-center environment. Gas treatment prepares the fuel, water treatment supports the fuel-processing system, and electrical equipment manages conversion, protection, distribution, and coordination with UPS and batteries.
The project was therefore about integrating a complete prime-power module into data-center operations. The project objectives included defining a fuel-cell prime-power concept, developing an open standard for adapting fuel cells to data-center systems, demonstrating and validating a module, collecting operational data, evaluating environmental and commercial impacts, studying energy efficiency and waste-heat recovery, and developing a market-uptake strategy. The CORDIS project results record provides the European Commission’s project-level objectives and reporting context.
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E2P2 uses solid-oxide fuel cells, or SOFCs. Official project reporting describes two systems rated at 45 kilowatts each. Each system contains 60 stacks, with each stack rated at 1.5 kilowatts, and each unit is housed in a 20-foot container.
| Specification | E2P2 demonstrator detail |
|---|---|
| Fuel-cell technology | Solid-oxide fuel cells |
| Number of systems | Two |
| Rating per system | 45 kW |
| Stacks per system | 60 |
| Rating per stack | 1.5 kW |
| Combined nominal fuel-cell rating | Approximately 90 kW |
| Housing | One 20-foot container per unit |
| Supporting equipment | Gas treatment, water treatment, electrical equipment, UPS, batteries, and controls |
The approximately 90-kilowatt figure is a nominal fuel-cell rating, not automatically the amount of net power delivered to the data-center load. Auxiliary equipment consumes electricity, conversion introduces losses, and the usable system output depends on operating conditions, redundancy, maintenance, and which part of the facility the demonstrator serves. The technical details come from CORDIS periodic reporting for E2P2.
Which fuels can solid-oxide fuel cells use?
SOFC platforms can be configured for different fuels, including natural gas, biogas, hydrogen, and propane or LPG, when the fuel-processing and treatment systems are designed for those fuels. Fuel flexibility does not mean that a single installation can switch instantly among all fuels without changes to storage, treatment, safety systems, permits, economics, and operating procedures.
E2P2 was intended to support a lower-carbon and potentially hydrogen-compatible pathway. The project was not described as a demonstration that would necessarily run entirely on green hydrogen. Natural gas, biogas, hydrogen, and LPG appear in the project’s fuel discussion, and the environmental result depends substantially on which fuel is actually supplied and how its emissions are counted.
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Does “low-carbon” mean that E2P2 is zero-emission?
No. “Low-carbon” is not synonymous with zero-carbon. A natural-gas SOFC still uses a fossil fuel and produces carbon dioxide, even if the system can have lower local pollutants or better efficiency than a conventional combustion arrangement. The fuel-cell process itself should not be confused with the full lifecycle of the fuel.
| Fuel pathway | What can be said safely | What remains conditional |
|---|---|---|
| Natural gas | Can reduce local pollutants and potentially improve efficiency compared with conventional combustion generation. | Carbon dioxide remains part of operation, and upstream methane and supply-chain emissions matter. |
| Biogas or biomethane | May reduce lifecycle emissions depending on the feedstock, accounting method, and supply chain. | “Renewable” or biogenic fuel does not automatically produce zero lifecycle emissions. |
| Green hydrogen | Can avoid direct carbon emissions from electrochemical electricity generation at the site. | The overall impact depends on hydrogen production, transport, storage, leakage, and electricity inputs. |
| Propane or LPG | May be technically usable with appropriate fuel processing. | Fuel cost, carbon intensity, storage, safety, and local permitting still need site-specific assessment. |
The original Equinix announcement expressed hope for operational carbon-emissions reductions of up to 100 percent. That was an aspirational outcome dependent on the fuel and associated assumptions, especially the use of hydrogen or qualifying renewable fuels; it was not a demonstrated result for every E2P2 operating mode. The project’s environmental discussion is documented in the 2021 Equinix announcement and subsequent CORDIS reporting.
Where was the E2P2 system demonstrated?
The demonstration site is Equinix’s ML5 data center in Settimo Milanese, near Milan, Italy. The site was intended to provide a real data-center operating environment rather than a laboratory-only test.
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As of the latest official project reporting available on August 16, 2026, major system components had passed factory acceptance testing and had been delivered to ML5. The delivered equipment included the two 45-kilowatt SOFC units and the associated gas-treatment, water-treatment, electrical, UPS, battery, and control equipment. The reporting establishes substantial equipment and integration progress, but it does not establish that the demonstrator had completed all operational validation or become a generally available commercial product.
What is the current E2P2 project status?
The most accurate current status is that E2P2 had progressed from an announcement into equipment delivery and site integration, while final commercial validation remained unverified in the official material consulted.
| Status question | Supported answer |
|---|---|
| Was E2P2 a genuine project? | Yes. E2P2 is an EU-supported consortium project with the European Commission project ID 101007219. |
| Were the major components built and tested at the factory? | Official reporting says major components passed factory acceptance testing. |
| Were the components delivered to a data center? | Yes. Reporting says the equipment was delivered to Equinix ML5 near Milan for integration. |
| Was full operational validation completed? | The consulted official reporting does not establish completed full operational validation. |
| Did E2P2 become a standard commercial product? | No verified evidence in the consulted sources establishes broad commercial availability. |
| When does the project end? | The current CORDIS record lists December 31, 2026, while earlier factsheet and Clean Hydrogen Partnership material listed a period ending in February 2025. |
The conflicting end dates should be reported rather than hidden. The current CORDIS project record is the stronger current reference and lists December 31, 2026. Earlier project materials referred to an end date in February 2025, indicating that the implementation period may have been extended or administratively updated. A final conclusion about operational performance should wait for later project reporting.
What could fuel cells improve for data centers?
Fuel cells could help data centers in several ways, although every benefit depends on site conditions, fuel choice, and system design.
Grid-capacity relief
On-site generation can reduce the amount of electricity a facility must draw through constrained distribution infrastructure. The approach may be useful where utility upgrades or new substations are delayed, particularly for urban facilities and high-density computing loads.
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Lower local pollution than diesel engines
SOFCs do not operate like diesel engines. Depending on the fuel and operating conditions, fuel-cell systems can produce very low particulate and sulfur-oxide emissions and reduced nitrogen-oxide emissions compared with combustion-based generation. Local permits still determine what a particular site can install.
Lower noise
The absence of a conventional high-speed reciprocating engine can make SOFCs attractive in noise-sensitive environments. Fuel-cell installations are not silent: fans, pumps, gas equipment, cooling systems, inverters, and other auxiliary equipment can still produce noise.
Modular expansion
Containerized modules can potentially be added in phases as a facility’s power requirement grows. Modularity does not eliminate the need for fuel infrastructure, electrical interconnection, maintenance clearances, redundancy, safety systems, or permits.
Potential waste-heat recovery
SOFCs produce heat, and recovering that heat can improve total energy utilization when a data center or nearby development has a consistent thermal load. Waste-heat recovery is less valuable when a site has no practical use for the heat.
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What are the main constraints and failure modes?
Fuel cells do not remove the engineering challenges of critical power; they change the equipment and dependencies that must be managed.
- Fuel supply: A system dependent on natural gas, biogas, hydrogen, or LPG remains vulnerable to fuel availability, pressure, quality, storage, transport, and pipeline interruptions.
- Hydrogen logistics: Clean hydrogen may be difficult or expensive to source. Storage, compression, transport, leakage, safety, and permitting can become major design constraints.
- Balance-of-plant reliability: Fuel treatment, water treatment, pumps, cooling, inverters, controls, switchgear, and batteries can limit availability even when the fuel-cell stacks themselves are reliable.
- Cost and complexity: A data-center installation includes fuel delivery, processing, electrical conversion, controls, monitoring, service, safety systems, engineering, and permits in addition to the stacks.
- Net power versus nameplate power: A 45-kilowatt module does not necessarily provide 45 kilowatts of net usable load after auxiliary consumption and conversion losses.
- Maintenance and redundancy: A critical facility must plan for module outages, service intervals, replacement parts, fuel interruptions, and failures in electrical equipment.
- Water and gas treatment: Fuel cells may reduce water use compared with some centralized generation pathways, but E2P2 explicitly includes water treatment and gas treatment as system components.
- Permitting: A lower-emission technology may ease some local constraints, but gas equipment, hydrogen storage, electrical interconnection, fire protection, and building rules still apply.
E2P2 project materials included indicative electrical-efficiency targets of 42% to 62% and capital-cost targets of €3,500 to €6,500 per kilowatt. These are project targets or reference parameters, not proof of achieved commercial performance or a public purchase price. The figures appear in Clean Hydrogen Partnership project material.
How is E2P2 different from Equinix’s Bloom Energy deployments?
E2P2 is separate from Equinix’s commercial relationship with Bloom Energy. Both initiatives involve solid-oxide fuel cells, but E2P2 is a European consortium demonstration focused on an integrated, open, potentially hydrogen-compatible prime-power architecture, while the Bloom projects are commercial deployments and technology programs involving Bloom systems.
| Date | Equinix activity | Why it should not be confused with E2P2 |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Equinix and Bloom Energy announced a 1-megawatt biogas fuel-cell project at the SV5 data center in Silicon Valley. | This was an Equinix-Bloom deployment, not the European E2P2 consortium. |
| 2017 | Equinix announced a 15-year power-purchase agreement involving Bloom fuel cells at 12 additional U.S. data centers, totaling more than 37 MW; Equinix described more than 40 MW across 15 locations when existing installations were included. | The scale and commercial structure differ from the approximately 90-kilowatt E2P2 demonstrator. |
| 2021 | Equinix announced the seven-member E2P2 consortium. | E2P2 focused on European demonstration, integration, validation, and an intended open standard. |
| 2022 | Equinix opened a Co-Innovation Facility at its Ashburn campus, where Bloom Energy was among the partners testing sustainable data-center technologies. | A possible generator-less and UPS-less SOFC architecture was a test concept at the facility, not a description of all E2P2 systems. |
| 2025 | Equinix announced an alternative-energy strategy including a Bloom-related deployment exceeding 100 MW across more than 19 data centers in six U.S. states. | The more-than-100-MW figure describes the separate Bloom expansion, not E2P2. |
The 2015 and 2017 deployments are documented in Equinix’s SV5 announcement and 2017 expansion announcement. The Ashburn testing is described in the 2022 Co-Innovation Facility release. Equinix’s separate 2025 Bloom expansion is described in the company’s August 14, 2025 alternative-energy announcement.
What does the project prove—and what does it not prove?
E2P2 demonstrates a serious attempt to solve the integration problem around fuel cells and data centers. The project is not simply asking whether an SOFC stack can make electricity; it is testing whether fuel-cell generation can work with UPS systems, batteries, gas and water treatment, controls, data-center operations, and resilience requirements.
Delivery of the equipment to ML5 and completion of factory acceptance testing are meaningful milestones. They do not, by themselves, prove continuous operation at the required availability, competitive lifecycle cost, successful hydrogen operation, reduced lifecycle carbon emissions, or broad commercial readiness.
The phrase “generator-less” also needs care. Equinix and Bloom described a potential generator-less and UPS-less architecture as a technology-testing concept at the Ashburn Co-Innovation Facility. That concept should not be generalized to mean that every fuel-cell data center can eliminate batteries, UPS equipment, backup generation, or layered electrical protection.
Can E2P2 be called a hydrogen-powered data-center project?
E2P2 can be described as a fuel-cell project with a potential hydrogen-compatible pathway, but calling the demonstrator simply “hydrogen-powered” is too broad. The project’s fuel-flexibility concept includes natural gas, biogas, hydrogen, and LPG with appropriate processing, and the available sources do not establish that the ML5 demonstrator operated entirely on green hydrogen.
Is E2P2 a commercial fuel-cell product?
No verified evidence in the consulted official sources establishes that E2P2 became a broadly available commercial product. E2P2 is better characterized as a development, demonstration, validation, and standardization project whose hardware reached the demonstration site.
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What could a buyer evaluate instead?
A prospective enterprise buyer would need to evaluate a complete site-specific power solution rather than purchase “E2P2” as a retail product. Relevant evaluation areas include fuel availability, net electrical output, redundancy, UPS and battery integration, heat use, emissions accounting, maintenance, service contracts, permits, interconnection, capital cost, and lifecycle operating cost.
Bloom Energy fuel-cell systems are a relevant commercial comparison for large sites considering on-site solid-oxide generation. Bloom’s official contact route is appropriate for a site-specific inquiry; public system pricing was not identified in the consulted sources.
Vertiv power infrastructure is relevant because fuel-cell generation still requires UPS equipment, batteries, controls, monitoring, and electrical integration. Vertiv’s official vendor site provides the company’s product and contact route, while E2P2 reporting identifies Vertiv’s project contribution as UPS, batteries, and electrical/control integration.
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Equinix data-center services may suit organizations seeking colocation or interconnection rather than constructing and operating their own power plant. Equinix’s data-center services page is the relevant starting point, although pricing varies by market, power allocation, cabinet, cross-connects, security, and contract terms.
SolydEra fuel-cell technology is relevant to organizations evaluating stationary SOFC systems. SolydEra’s official company site is the appropriate route for technology inquiries; the consulted sources did not identify a public E2P2 system price or a standardized, off-the-shelf data-center package.
Why does the E2P2 announcement still matter?
E2P2 matters because it addresses the part of fuel-cell adoption that marketing summaries often omit: the integration of generation into a critical facility. Data centers need more than low-emission electricity. They need power-quality management, redundancy, fuel continuity, maintenance access, controls, safe operation, and a credible business case.
The project also provides a useful scale comparison. E2P2’s two 45-kilowatt units represent approximately 90 kilowatts of nominal fuel-cell capacity, while Equinix’s separate 2025 Bloom announcement described a planned deployment exceeding 100 megawatts across more than 19 U.S. data centers in six states. The larger figure signals Equinix’s broader fuel-cell strategy, not commercialization of the E2P2 demonstrator.
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Did Equinix manufacture the E2P2 fuel cells?
No. Equinix was the data-center operator, demonstration host, and operational partner in E2P2. Project reporting identifies SolydEra as the developer of the two 45-kilowatt fuel-cell systems, while other partners supplied research, gas and water treatment, energy infrastructure, and electrical integration.
Where is the E2P2 fuel-cell demonstration located?
The E2P2 demonstration is located at Equinix’s ML5 data center in Settimo Milanese, near Milan, Italy. Official reporting says the major components passed factory acceptance testing and were delivered to ML5 for integration.
Is E2P2 powered by green hydrogen?
The available official sources do not establish that the E2P2 demonstrator operated entirely on green hydrogen. E2P2 was designed around fuel flexibility and a potential hydrogen-compatible pathway that can also involve natural gas, biogas, or LPG with suitable processing.
How large is the E2P2 fuel-cell system?
The E2P2 demonstrator consists of two 45-kilowatt solid-oxide fuel-cell systems, for an approximately 90-kilowatt nominal fuel-cell rating. Each system contains 60 stacks rated at 1.5 kilowatts, and the nominal rating does not equal guaranteed net data-center load after auxiliary consumption and conversion losses.
The Bottom Line
Bottom line: E2P2 is a serious EU-backed demonstration of how solid-oxide fuel cells could serve as prime power for data centers, supported by UPS equipment, batteries, gas and water treatment, and controls. The equipment reached Equinix’s ML5 site near Milan, but the available official reporting does not establish full operational validation or a commercial product. Equinix’s separate Bloom Energy deployments—including the more-than-100-MW expansion announced in 2025—show a broader commercial fuel-cell strategy, not proof that E2P2 itself has been commercialized.
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