In what can be termed as a momentous advance in the pursuit of developing fuel cells for supplying relatively clean and affordable electricity, a Silicon Valley startup Bloom Energy is set to introduce solid oxide fuel cells.

For eight years, Bloom Energy, which has raised $400 million from investors, has been quietly and persistently working at developing fuel cell technology – the most efficient yet the most scientifically-challenging technology that converts hydrogen, natural gas or other fuels into electricity via an electrochemical process.

Bloom’s new fuel cells – amassed in tall, round cylinders and installed in silver metal cubes - will officially be unveiled at a Wednesday news conference which will be attended by the California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Colin Powell, the ex-secretary of state and a member of the Bloom board.

Noting that devices have undergone testing by Bank of America, Google, Wal-Mart and other big corporations, Bloom’s co-founder and CEO KR Sridhar specified that the devices have been generating electricity, using natural gas, at a cost of 8-10 cents per kilowatt hour – which is much lower than commercial electricity prices in some parts of the country.

Saying that Bloom “got into this business to make affordable electricity, not fuel cells,” Sridhar and other Bloom executives claim that the company’s device can potentially reduce electricity-generation-related greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent.