Caterpillar awarded for collaboration with Ballard at Microsoft Data Center

Caterpillar announced that its collaboration with Microsoft and Ballard Power Systems on a data center power solution using a large-format hydrogen fuel cell earned the top honor in the “Systems Development and Integration” category at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Hydrogen Program 2024 Annual Merit Review Awards.

Presented at the 2024 Annual Merit Review and Peer Evaluation Meeting, the awards recognize contributions to overall program efforts and highlight research, development, and demonstration achievements in specific disciplines.

The award was accepted by Paul Wang, senior engineering project team lead for Caterpillar (opening image), who represented a team of more than 50 engineers demonstrating the viability of large-format hydrogen fuel cells for supplying reliable backup power for data centers. The project simulated a 48-hour backup power event at Microsoft’s data center in Cheyenne, Wyoming, using two Cat Power Grid Stabilization (PGS) 1260 battery energy storage systems and a 1.5 MW hydrogen fuel cell.

The demonstration provided valuable insights into the capabilities of fuel cell systems to power multi-megawatt data centers, ensuring uninterrupted power supply to meet 99.999% uptime requirements.

Caterpillar led the project, providing overall system integration, power electronics, and microgrid controls that form the central structure of the hydrogen power solution. Microsoft hosted the demonstration project, while Ballard supplied an advanced hydrogen fuel cell module.

Backed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the demonstration is supported and partially funded by the DOE’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office under the H2@Scale initiative.

“This award from the DOE validates how our advanced technologies, industry expertise and collaborative approach are helping customers meet their climate-related objectives,” said Jaime Mineart, senior vice president of Caterpillar Electric Power.