Startup ECL has delivered its first hydrogen-powered data centre.

Writing in the latest edition of the Data Center Frontier newsletter, cloud computing expert Rich Miller says ECL’s MV1 facility in Mountain View California was envisioned as a proof-of-concept colocation site where customers could experience hydrogen power. The facility has been fully leased to AI hosting specialist Cato Digital, which will pack “1,800 GPUs into 22 racks, running 1 megawatt of capacity in about 1,000 square feet.”

Miller explains that the concept is to run the data centre using a hydrogen fuel cell which outputs electricity to power the servers and water to cool them. He says this approach offers the potential for a zero-emission site with no impact on local water supplies.

The ECL facility will be off-grid, with no utility power connection, and is expected to operate at a power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.1. This is in line with the energy efficiency of the largest cloud data centres.  ECL uses rear-door heat exchangers to cool its racks, supporting power densities of 75 kW per cabinet. There are two cooling loops, one using water output from the hydrogen fuel cell, and a backup loop.

ECL CEO Yuval Bachar has held data centre leadership positions with Microsoft, LinkedIn, Facebook, Cisco, and Juniper Networks. He sees hydrogen as the most sustainable path forward for data centres and founded ECL to advance that mission.

Read the full story here.