2023-05-11 16:16:25
Helion Energy plans to begin commercial power generation from nuclear fusion within five years. The firm is so confident that it has just concluded an agreement with Microsoft, which will buy electricity from it from 2028.
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Nuclear fusion is the holy grail of clean and green electricity generation. This technology produces no radioactive waste, unlike nuclear fission. Many researchers are working on it to make it a reality, including private companies. Microsoft has just announced that it has reached an agreement with the firm Helion Energy to buy electricity from it… in 2028.
This is most certainly the first agreement of its kind in the world, while nuclear fusion is still far from the commercial stage. Nevertheless, this announcement shows how confident Helion Energy is in its ability to start up its first reactor in just five years.
A gigawatt reactor?
The deal calls for Microsoft to buy 50 megawatts of nuclear fusion power starting in 2028, with a one-year ramp-up period until the reactor is fully operational, and penalties if Helion Energy fails to produce electricity. However, the firm sees much bigger and targets the gigawatt, or 20 times the power promised to Microsoft.
To fund its nuclear fusion research, Helion Energy has successfully raised more than $570 million in private funds. One of the main investors is Sam Altman, one of the co-founders of OpenAI, known for ChatGPT. In 2021, the man had revealed to have invested up to 375 million dollars. Before commencing commercial production, Helion Energy plans to bring its seventh-generation Polaris reactor online next year, which uses pulsed magnetic fields and helium-3 as fuel, rather than tritium which is favored by the competition. .
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