Microsoft Buys Power From Helion, a Nuclear Fusion Company

(CTN News) – Microsoft (MSFT.O) will begin receiving electricity from the private U.S. nuclear fusion company Helion Energy within the next five years, in the first agreement to use the energy that powers the sun but has been difficult to obtain.

Government laboratories and more than 30 companies are racing to generate power from fusion, which could assist the world in reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with climate change.

The plant would be able to generate power without producing long-term radioactive waste, in contrast to today’s fission reactors.

As a result of extreme temperatures, two light atoms, such as hydrogen, fuse into a heavier atom, releasing large amounts of energy in the process.

As of yet, Microsoft earthly fusion reactions have been momentary and suck up more energy than they release, however, companies have raised about $5 billion in private funding with the aim of achieving a net energy gain.

Helion’s plant is expected to go online by 2028 and will generate 50 megawatts or more after a ramp-up period of one year. On a typical day, one megawatt is sufficient to provide power to about 1,000 U.S. residences.

As David Kirtley, the founder and chief executive of Helion, explained in an interview, “50 megawatts represents a major first step in commercial fusion, and the revenue we generate feeds directly back into developing more power plants and bringing fusion electricity to the grid both domestically and internationally.”

Helion’s Polaris machine is expected to be operational next year and demonstrate the generation of electricity using fusion technologies based on lasers and Microsoft magnets, according to Kirtley. The ideal temperature is approximately twice the temperature achieved by Helion in 2021, according to Kirtley.

While many fusion companies use tritium, a rare hydrogen isotope, to fuel reactions, Helion plans to use Helium 3, which is commonly used in quantum computing.

In 2021, Helion will provide $375 million in private capital from Microsoft OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Helion’s work, according to Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith, “supports our own long-term clean energy goals and will help establish a new, efficient method for bringing more clean energy to the grid quicker.”

Power purchase agreements were not disclosed by the companies.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approval and local permits are still required for Helion’s design and construction.

The fusion industry, however, cheered the NRC’s decision last month to separate fusion regulation from fission regulation, a move that supporters believe could reduce license approval timelines.

The head of the Fusion Industry Association, Andrew Holland, asserted that no matter how difficult fusion has been, trust is beginning to develop.

A number of people are beginning to understand that Microsoft fusion is coming sooner than they anticipated, Holland said in an interview. “It is a vote of confidence in Helion, as well as in the other companies currently building their proof-of-concept machines.”

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