American Electric reports purchase agreement for solid oxide fuel cells

In a regulatory filing, American Electric (AEP) said that on January 4, an unregulated subsidiary of AEP executed (i) an unconditional purchase agreement to acquire a substantial portion of its option for solid oxide fuel cells for the development and construction of a fuel cell generation facility for approximately $2.65B, and (ii) a 20 year offtake arrangement with a high investment grade third party customer for 100% of the output of the fuel cell generation facility expected to be located near Cheyenne, Wyoming. The offtake arrangement is subject to certain conditions which AEP expects to be satisfied by second quarter 2026. Should the conditions not be satisfied, AEP will be financially compensated for all capital and costs incurred. The Fly notes that American Electric Power previously partnered with Bloom Energy (BE) to deploy up to 1 gigawatt of Bloom’s solid oxide fuel cells, primarily for data centers; shares of Bloom Energy are up about 3% in pre-market trading.