On November 5, 2026, NTT DATA announced an agreement with U.S.-based Bloom Energy to deploy a total of 900 MW (0.9 GW) of fuel cells at data centers around the world. The fuel cells will serve as the primary power source supplying electricity under normal operating conditions, with first shipments scheduled to begin in 2027. As AI-driven demand makes it harder to secure power for data centers, the aim is to add generation capacity in stages as facilities are built, shortening the time needed before they can become operational. However, the capacity planned for each site, the fuels to be used, and how the systems will connect to the power grid have not been disclosed. Assessing how workable the plan is, and its environmental impact, will require checking actual deployments as they come.
900 MW Across Multiple Sites Worldwide, With First Shipments in 2027
The company deploying the fuel cells under this agreement is NTT Global Data Centers, part of the NTT DATA group. The 900 MW is the combined generation capacity across multiple data center projects around the world; it is not a plan to install 900 MW of generation at a single facility. The figure also refers to generation capacity. It does not represent the power consumption of IT equipment such as servers, nor the scale of facilities already in operation.
Bloom Energy describes the agreement as its largest international project to date. Although 900 MW, equivalent to 900,000 kW, is a large amount of generation capacity, how much electricity it can actually supply over a year depends on equipment utilization and operating conditions. At this point, the allocation of capacity by country and site, the contract value, and the order of deployment have not been made public.
First shipments are scheduled to begin in 2027, but that does not mean all 900 MW will be installed or operating within that year. The two companies also envision expanding their collaboration across NTT DATA's global data center business to the gigawatt scale. That future ambition should be distinguished from the 900 MW now agreed, however; additional capacity and its timing have not been decided.
Building Out Power Supply in Parallel With Data Center Construction
Bloom Energy makes solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), which convert fuel into electricity through an electrochemical reaction. Unlike conventional thermal power generation, which burns fuel to drive a turbine, they convert the chemical energy of the fuel directly into electrical energy. Under this plan, the fuel cells will be installed on data center sites and supply power during normal operation. Rather than simply buying electricity from the external grid, the approach builds power generation into the facility construction plan.
Doug Adams, CEO of NTT Global Data Centers, explained that while customers are building AI systems at a rapid pace, grid development can fail to keep up. A data center cannot begin operating, even with buildings and servers ready, unless it can secure the power it needs. How quickly power can be secured has therefore become an important competitive factor in providing computing capacity to customers.
Bloom Energy's fuel cells are modular, so generation capacity can be expanded in stages as needed. Because generation equipment can be added as data center construction progresses, there is no need to complete all power infrastructure at the outset. The two companies say this approach can bring forward the start of data center operations. However, the announcement gives no specific data, such as how many months of construction time would be saved compared with conventional methods, so the real effect will have to wait for results at individual sites.
Using fuel cells as the "primary power source" also does not mean operating completely independently of the power grid. According to Bloom Energy's product specification document, its Energy Server is designed for 24-hour continuous operation and supports configurations that run in parallel with the grid as well as microgrid configurations that supply power within a local area. A primary power source refers to the role of supplying power under normal conditions; it does not determine whether a site is grid-connected or how it behaves during an outage. Which configuration each site will adopt for this 900 MW has not been disclosed.
Fuel Cells Don't Burn Fuel, but CO2 Emissions Are Not Necessarily Zero
The environmental performance of fuel cells also requires distinguishing the generation method from the fuel actually used. In its technical note on emissions, Bloom Energy states explicitly that Energy Servers running on natural gas emit CO2. Even if power is generated without directly burning fuel, using a carbon-containing fuel produces CO2 in the process.
The company's products support natural gas as well as hydrogen-blended fuel, biogas, and hydrogen. This fuel flexibility is an advantage for switching to lower-carbon fuels in the future. However, this is a general specification of the Energy Server, and which fuel will be used for the 900 MW for NTT DATA has not been disclosed. Installing a product that is compatible with hydrogen is different from actually generating power with hydrogen.
On the environmental side, the two companies say that a generation method that does not involve combustion can reduce emissions of substances that contribute to local air pollution, and can also lower water use and operating noise. These, however, are the companies' explanations of general product characteristics, not results measured at the deployment sites. Air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and the greenhouse gas CO2 also need to be evaluated separately.
Because the fuel, operating conditions, and CO2 emissions per unit of electricity generated at each site have not been disclosed, it is not currently possible to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions of this plan in concrete terms. The possibility that on-site generation can speed up power procurement, and how much it can cut CO2 emissions, are separate points of evaluation.
What the 900 MW Agreement Confirms, and What Remains to Be Seen
What the agreement makes clear is that NTT DATA plans to deploy a total of 900 MW of fuel cells as a primary power source at multiple data centers around the world, with first shipments scheduled to begin in 2027. The conditions that will shape actual operations, such as individual sites, start-up timing, and fuel, remain undisclosed. The agreement and the general product specifications can be summarized as follows.
| Item | Disclosed in the agreement | Undisclosed conditions / general product specifications |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment capacity | 900 MW in total across multiple projects worldwide | Capacity allocation by country and site not disclosed |
| Timing | First shipments planned to begin in 2027 | Timing for completing installation and starting operation of the full capacity not disclosed |
| Role of power source | Primary source supplying power under normal conditions | Not necessarily fully independent of the grid |
| Fuel | Fuel for individual projects not disclosed | General products support natural gas, hydrogen, biogas, and others |
| Grid connection | Connection method at each site not disclosed | General products support grid-parallel operation and microgrid configurations |
| CO2 emissions | Emissions per unit of electricity generated not disclosed | CO2 is produced when natural gas is used |
| Future expansion | Envisions expansion to the gigawatt scale | Additional deployment beyond 900 MW and its timing not decided |
Going forward, key indicators will be how many megawatts of generation come online at which sites after the first shipments in 2027, and how quickly power can actually be supplied to the data centers. Once the fuel and grid connection method are known, the stability of the power supply and the environmental impact can be evaluated more concretely. With securing power becoming a challenge as AI infrastructure expands, attention will focus on how far this 900 MW deployment plan succeeds as a way of advancing data center construction and power development in parallel.