SF UTILITY SAYS SUN BEATS BLOOM

PG&E bashes Bloom
Lindsay Riddell, March 1, 2010 (San Francisco Business Times)

"PG&E Corp. CEO Peter Darbee says Bloom Energy’s fuel cells won’t spell the end of the utility.

"Bloom Energy made a huge splash when the stealthy startup debuted its fuel cell technology last week – first on 60 Minutes and then at a big news event at eBay headquarters…Bloom Boxes were billed as distributed power generators that can eliminate the need for traditional power plants and transmission lines by generating reliable, cheap power at the source where its needed."

From CBS via YouTube

"Bloom’s message is that every home and business could have a Bloom Box…[and then] no one would need their utility…But Peter Darbee said that Bloom is still way too expensive to compete with the power his utility delivers…"

From 16Dec71 via YouTube

"He said the price at which Bloom can provide electricity today is still much more expensive than the price of electricity associated with solar and other available renewables. He said Bloom may be able to bring down its cost significantly but it hasn’t happened yet…[though] he expects to see “incursions” of fuel cell technology."

[Peter Darbee, CEO, Pacific Gas & Electric:] “Quite frankly we’re seeing more opportunity with PV coming out of China and things of that nature…Is it the end of the utility?…Absolutely not.”