Stop & Shop announced it will power 40 of its stores in Massachusetts and New York with Bloom Energy Servers.

Stop & Shop is an Ahold Delhaize USA Company and employs nearly 60,000 associates and operates more than 400 stores throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey. Ahold Delhaize also owns Food Lion and Giant stores in Delaware.

Bloom has its main production site in Newark.

The servers operate around the clock and will power each store in the event of a grid power outage.

According to Bloom, the servers are expected to reduce Stop & Shop’s carbon emissions by over 15,000 metric tons per year – the equivalent of removing about 3,200 cars from the road.

“Our stores are an important community resource for our customers, particularly when severe weather strikes,” said Gordon Reid, President of Stop & Shop. “Whether customers need to stock up on food, batteries, flashlights, other emergency items, or even their prescription medications, we know how vital the products and services our stores provide are. These Servers will not only reduce our stores’ impact on the environment but also ensure our stores can stay open when needed most.”

The Bloom Energy fuel cells deployed at each Stop & Shop store will be configured as a microgrid that can operate independently of the local electric grid. Because Bloom Energy Servers receive their natural gas or biogas fuel through the underground pipeline system, they are less susceptible to the impacts of extreme weather than overhead power lines.

Bloom Energy Servers convert natural gas or biogas fuel into electricity without combustion, using solid oxide fuel cell technology. The fuel cells use no water in normal operation. With the use of the Energy Servers, Stop & Shop expects to save the fresh water system over 1.6 billion gallons annually.

Installations of Bloom microgrids will begin early this year with Stop & Shop stores located on Cape Cod, followed by additional stores in Massachusetts and Long Island. The Massachusetts projects are made possible through collaboration with the sponsors of Mass Save, including Cape Light Compact, Eversource, and National Grid.

Bloom Energy Servers already power a Mt. Vernon, NY, store and have helped keep it open during several severe storms since 2014. The technology is also deployed at a Stop & Shop store in Peekskill, NY.

Stop & Shop is committed to reducing its environmental impact. In addition to the implementation of the Bloom Energy Servers, the company opened a Green Energy Facility in 2016.

The facility uses an anaerobic digester to convert food that cannot be sold or donated into energy that powers the company’s Freetown, MA distribution center. To date, the facility has processed over 160 million pounds of inedible food from 200 of its stores in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut and produced enough energy to power 1,850 homes a year.

Bloom has been marketing its fuel cell systems as a microgram option for hospitals, big box stores and public buildings.