Fuel cell powered AI data centers
The data center sites with fuel cell power on record in the Capital Atlas, the fuel cell generators planned nationally in EIA-860M, and the fuel cell plant behind a SAVRN Atom.
Fuel cells make electricity from fuel without burning it. For a data center that cannot wait for a grid interconnection, or cannot be permitted with a turbine plant next to a town, that is the difference between building and not building. The sites below have put a fuel cell arrangement on the record.
Data center sites with fuel cell power on record
| # | Developer | Site | State | Capacity | Status | Power arrangement, as recorded | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alphabet / Google | Project Tembo (formerly Project Jade), Switchgrass Industrial Park | Wyoming | 2,700 MW | approved | Tallgrass Energy to combine energy resources from Black Hills Energy, fuel cells and its power plant to serve the campus | cowboystatedaily.comdatacenterknowledge.comoilcity.news |
| 2 | Volition | Volition data center, former Fingerhut warehouse (4000 E. U.S. 6), Spanish Fork Canyon | Utah | 250 MW | proposed | Self-generated, fuel cell powered; the city amendment requires energy grid isolation; air permits sought from the Utah Division of Air Quality | msn.comsltrib.comfox13now.com |
| 3 | Amazon (AWS) | AWS data center campus, Scioto Darby Road (Hilliard area) with AEP Ohio fuel cell plant | Ohio | under construction | 72.9 MW AEP Ohio fuel cell facility using 228 Bloom Energy units, supplied by natural gas | msn.comwosu.org | |
| 4 | DataOne | DataOne AI factory campus (Logix Innovation Campus) | Indiana | announced | 350 MW of utility power through IMPA plus 175 MW from Bloom Energy natural gas fuel cells, per the project electrical engineer at the 21 September 2026 open house | clintoncountydailynews.comjconline.comclintoncountydailynews.com |
Which AI data centers are powered by fuel cells?
4 named sites in the SAVRN Capital Atlas record fuel cell generation: Alphabet / Google at Project Tembo (formerly Project Jade), Switchgrass Industrial Park, Wyoming; Volition at Volition data center, former Fingerhut warehouse (4000 E. U.S. 6), Spanish Fork Canyon, Utah; Amazon (AWS) at AWS data center campus, Scioto Darby Road (Hilliard area) with AEP Ohio fuel cell plant, Ohio; DataOne at DataOne AI factory campus (Logix Innovation Campus), Indiana.
Why fuel cells instead of gas turbines?
A fuel cell converts fuel electrochemically, without combustion, so it runs quiet, emits no NOx and can be permitted and sited where a turbine plant cannot. It produces firm baseload rather than variable output, which is what a constant compute load needs.
How does SAVRN use fuel cells?
SAVRN's Proton plant is the on-site baseload for an Atom block: fuel cells sized to the block's 13.2 MW envelope, with grid-forming storage for transients, islanding and black start, so the campus never waits on a utility interconnection queue. Proton is a reference design verified per site; it is described on its solutions page, not ranked against operating sites here.
How much fuel cell capacity is planned nationally?
The permits tracker's EIA-860M read has no planned fuel cell generators on file at the moment.
Seven references, one system
Capital, delay, policy, water, grid, permits and scarcity are one system seen from seven sides. Each reference is primary-sourced, refreshed on a schedule, and links into the others, so a project can be followed from the money committed to the docket that stopped it.