Home Fuel Cell Maker Bloom Energy Raising Largest Round Yet

Fuel cell startup Bloom Energy is a curious combination of high- and low-profile. As one of the first cleantech investments made by famed venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, it has been the subject of intense speculation for years, since it was first discovered operating as Ion America. But the company also doesn’t say much about itself publicly.

Like some other Kleiner Perkins portfolio companies, Bloom seems to benefit from combining modesty with its distinguished parentage. The company’s compact fuel cell has been mentioned by politicans, businessmen and environmentalists as a potential energy panacea — despite the fact that not one of them know much at all about it.

The company was reported to be raising about $150 million late in February. Now it’s looking like that figure was low — Clean Technology Investor (sub. req’d) is saying this morning that the target is $200 million, with a bit over $15 million raised so far. The size of the round suggests that the company is gearing up to start manufacturing and selling its cells commercially.

So it’s fair to start speculating about exactly what Bloom has got up its sleeve, and whether it can possibly live up to expectations. According to the DOE, the average fuel cell generates electricty at about 10 times the cost of a natural gas plant. Keep that in mind while reading this quote from a lengthy NYTimes Magazine article from October:

The firm’s partners say that Bloom could eventually sell hundreds of thousands of boxes, either at the 5-kilowatt size or as larger, 100-kilowatt machines that power buildings or neighborhoods … Sridhar also contended that even here, in the developed world, where the grid is reliable and electricity comparatively cheap, Bloom could find willing customers under the right circumstances.

At the very least, they’re implying that a Bloom cell is several times cheaper than standard fuel cell technologies — quite a leap.

Of course, from the careful wording, it’s also readily apparent that Bloom won’t be offering a straightforward replacement for grid energy; their primary market is the developing world where steady power just isn’t available. Solar power would have been a competitor in that area, but solar technologies only deliver peak energy for a few hours a day.

As to what the “right circumstances” are at home, chances are Bloom will be competing with existing technologies to be installed at big installations like hospitals, and remote, off-grid houses.