San Jose, Calif. — Cypress Semiconductor Corp. pledges that its headquarters campus in San Jose, Calif., will be independent from the public utility grid by 2015. The announcement was made by CEO T.J. Rodgers as the company dedicated three new Bloom Energy fuel cell systems at the site. The Bloom Energy Servers, combined with existing rooftop solar panel installations, now supply approximately 75 percent of Cypress’s electric needs.
“Using both solar and renewable-fuel-powered Bloom Energy Servers — and possibly other technologies still in their infancy — we envision a fully functional campus with 100 percent clean, self-sustaining electrical power,” Rodgers said. “We are three-fourths of the way toward achieving our goal using technology created right here in our own backyard, by the type of visionary minds that made Silicon Valley the center of innovation.”
The three 100-kilowatt Bloom Energy Servers are expected to pay for themselves in five years, at which point they will be generating nearly “free” electricity for Cypress. The servers, about the size of an average parking space, convert air and renewable biogas into electricity via a clean electrochemical process, according to the company.
Each server contains thousands of Bloom’s fuel cells and generates enough power to meet the needs of approximately 100 average U.S. homes, or one small office building.
At the dedication, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed said: “San Jose’s Green Vision sets ambitious goals for halving our per capita energy use and getting 100 percent of the city’s energy from clean, renewable sources. Efforts like Cypress’s are showing us that it’s possible to do just that.”
The dedication also showcased renewable energy exhibits from Bloom Energy, SunPower, and Cypress Envirosystems, a Cypress subsidiary that provides solutions to retrofit existing buildings and industrial plants for energy efficiency. There also were green energy exhibits from local high school students displayed at the event.
Cypress spun out SunPower in 2008 in a tax-free stock distribution worth $2.6 billion.