Writing in his bog, Microsoft’s director of data center research Sean James, called the breakthrough a "moon landing" moment for the data centre industry. Although ironically it would be good for the Russians, where as the moon landing was not.

Microsoft's backup generator was powered by two fuel cells which are inside two 40-feet-long shipping containers. The hydrogen set-up can reportedly generate up to 3 megawatts of power, which is enough to replace one diesel generator or up to 1,800 homes.

Hydrogen power also has many high-profile detractors, Elon [look at me]  Musk describing the technology as "the dumbest thing I could possibly imagine for energy storage" which just goes to show how muck imagination he lacks.  We think the dumbest thing for energy storage would be converting the power of Musk's views into something useful.

James said: When a lot of people think of renewable energy, they think of wind turbines and solar panels, and they don’t necessarily think of hydrogen."