Unleashing retail potential with reliable energy from bloom
Whether it’s a neighborhood store, a regional distribution center, or a national chain, uninterrupted operations are critical to serving customers and protecting revenue. Yet retailers today face mounting challenges: rising energy costs, increasing sustainability expectations, and growing concerns about grid reliability.
That’s why more retailers are turning to Bloom Energy. By generating clean, reliable power onsite, Bloom helps businesses stay open, reduce emissions, and gain greater control over their energy future.
Keeping retail open when the grid goes down
Power outages are more than an inconvenience for retailers—they’re a direct threat to revenue, inventory, and customer trust. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, power outages cost American businesses approximately $150 billion annually. For large organizations, downtime costs average as much as $9,000 per minute.
When severe heat waves and storms caused widespread outages in New York, Home Depot locations powered by Bloom Energy’s AlwaysON microgrids remained operational, providing customers with uninterrupted service when it was needed most.
Bloom Energy Servers generate electricity onsite using solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology, converting fuels such as natural gas, biogas, and hydrogen into electricity through an electrochemical process rather than combustion. This approach enables Bloom systems to achieve up to 99.999% availability—delivering reliability that often exceeds that of the traditional grid.
For retailers, that reliability can mean the difference between staying open and closing their doors during an outage.
Reducing costs while increasing predictability
Retail operates on tight margins, making energy costs a major concern. Volatile utility rates can make budgeting difficult, especially for businesses operating multiple locations.
Bloom Energy helps retailers gain greater cost certainty by producing power onsite at predictable long-term rates. Many customers achieve double-digit savings while reducing exposure to utility price fluctuations.
The value proposition is simple: reliable power, predictable costs, and improved operational resilience.
As one Staples executive put it, “The business decision becomes easy when you find a truly reliable, clean, and affordable solution, and Bloom Energy has delivered all three.”
Today, Bloom powers more than 300 retail stores, warehouses, and distribution facilities across the United States, helping businesses improve both financial performance and operational continuity.
Sustainability without compromise
Retailers are increasingly expected to reduce their environmental impact while maintaining profitability. Bloom Energy makes that possible.
Because Bloom Energy Servers generate electricity without combustion, they virtually eliminate emissions of harmful pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, and particulate matter. They can also reduce carbon emissions by up to 30% compared to conventional technologies while requiring no water during steady-state operation.
Bloom’s flexible platform is also designed for the future. The same solid oxide fuel cell technology can operate on renewable biogas today and can be configured to run on 100% hydrogen, creating a clear pathway toward net-zero energy goals.
This fuel flexibility allows retailers to make meaningful progress on sustainability initiatives without sacrificing reliability or performance.
KR Sridhar’s vision for the future of energy
The innovative technology powering Bloom Energy is the result of decades of leadership from founder, chairman, and CEO Dr. KR Sridhar.
Before founding Bloom Energy, Dr. Sridhar led groundbreaking research for NASA, developing technologies that could convert atmospheric gases into oxygen for future Mars missions. His work earned recognition from Fortune magazine, which named him one of the “top five futurists inventing tomorrow, today.”
Today, KR Sridhar continues to guide Bloom Energy’s mission to provide clean, reliable, and affordable power to organizations around the world. Under his leadership, Bloom has developed an energy platform that not only addresses today’s energy challenges but also supports future technologies such as hydrogen power, carbon capture, renewable biogas, and resilient microgrids.
A smarter way to power retail
The retail industry is evolving rapidly, and energy infrastructure must evolve with it. Businesses need solutions that can reduce emissions, lower costs, and keep operations running regardless of what happens on the grid. Bloom Energy delivers on all three counts.
With clean, combustion-free onsite power, exceptional reliability, and a clear path toward a net-zero future, Bloom empowers retailers to focus on what matters most: serving customers, growing their business, and building a more resilient future.