Microsoft has signed the first-ever commercial deal for fusion power with Helion Energy.
Scientists have long tried to create unlimited and sustainable energy using nuclear fusion, the same process that powers the sun, but have yet to succeed.
- Helion, a private U.S. nuclear fusion company, said it plans to start producing electricity through the world’s first commercial fusion generator in 2028.
- After a yearlong ramp-up period, it's targeting power generation of at least 50 megawatts, or enough to power around 50,000 homes in a day.
- Microsoft has signed a power purchase agreement with Helion to acquire electricity in 2028.
- The binding agreement, which involves financial penalties if a fusion system isn't built, would see Helion plug in the fusion generator to a power grid in Washington.
- Helion, backed by OpenAI founder Sam Altman, also plans to demo a prototype next year.
- Despite significant doubt over the deal, Microsoft President Brad Smith said the company wouldn't have agreed if it wasn't hopeful that technological advancements were accelerating.
- Robert Rosner, a University of Chicago theoretical physicist, called the deal the "most audacious thing I’ve ever heard," though he didn't entirely rule out the possibility of fusion by 2028.
- In December, U.S. scientists achieved a net energy gain in nuclear fusion, equivalent to about 1.5 pounds of TNT, or enough to boil 2.5 gallons of water.