US startup ECL bags funding for 1st hydrogen-powered data centre

US data centre startup ECL on Wednesday said it has obtained USD 7 million (EUR 6.4m) in seed financing for what will be the world’s first off-grid data centre that uses green hydrogen as a primary power source.

The modular data centre developer and operator ECL is pioneering the idea of hydrogen-powered data centres, delivered in 1-MW blocks, that are sustainable, do not consume local power and water and operate with zero emissions. The company’s plan is to use fuel cells entirely powered by hydrogen, which will allow installation at locations with no grid access.

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The first data centre will be installed at ECL’s headquarters in Mountain View, California. It is slated to begin operations in the second quarter of this year.

The seed financing for the initiative was secured in a funding round led by fibre optic equipment maker Molex Ventures and cyber security investor Hyperwise Ventures.

Modular data centres would require only six-nine months to be installed, while other facilities need between 18 and 24 months to go through planning and construction. ECL pointed out that the concept would be optimised for use by mid-sized data centre operators.

ECL was founded by data centre veterans from companies including Facebook, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Cisco, HPE and Bloom Energy,

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.916)