Honda has begun operation of a stationary fuel cell power station on its corporate campus in California, U.S.A.

Now fully operational as a demonstration programme, the fuel cell power station supplies clean and quiet emergency backup power to the data centre on the campus of American Honda Motor Co., Inc. The programme is said to be but the start of a plan to apply more next generation stationary fuel cell systems to Honda manufacturing facilities and data centres globally, reducing Honda's greenhouse gas emissions.

This demonstration stationary fuel cell unit has a capacity of approximately 500kW and reuses the fuel cell systems of previously leased Honda Clarity Fuel Cell vehicles. Honda states that it utilises a design that will allow the station's output to be increased with more fuel cells, while the layout of the fuel cell units can be tailored to suit the requirements of the location. In the future, the next generation of fuel cells for these stations will also power Honda's future fuel cell electric vehicle, based on the Honda CR-V coming in 2024.

Power requirements of data centres have been growing rapidly due to the expansion of cloud computing and big data utilisation. Supplying these centres with high-quality and reliable power is necessary to prevent system downtime and data corruption as well as damage to servers. Typical stationary backup generators rely on diesel fuel, which result in higher carbon emissions and local air pollution.