Internet auction giant eBay recently announced its plans to use a 6-megawatt renewable energy fuel cell system for the main power source of its new flagship data center, with power provided through a joint partnership with Bloom Energy.

“We believe the future of commerce can be greener,” John Donahoe, president and CEO of eBay, said. “We are embracing disruptive energy technology and designing it into our core data center energy architecture. Running our data centers primarily on reliable, renewable energy, we intend to shape a future for commerce that is more environmentally sustainable at its core.”

The data center is anticipated to be complete and functional by 2013, incorporating 30 Bloom Energy servers and producing a total of six megawatts. NewStar Media reports. Because the power cell servers will be installed on-site at the new facility, utility losses resulting from transport will be essentially eliminated.

Currently there are some tech companies that use alternative energy to run data centers, but it only serves as a supplemental source, with the new eBay facility marking it as the first tech company to use alternative-energy fuel cells as a primary energy source, reports The New York Times. EBay paves the way to green energy for traditional “energy-hungry” data centers to follow.