Microsoft is reportedly set to sign an agreement to purchase power from nuclear fusion energy startup Helion Energy.
The tech giant will buy some of the power from Helion's first 50-megawatt fusion plant, which is expected to be completed by 2028.
- Getting nuclear fusion energy will enable Microsoft to take steps toward its goal of becoming carbon negative by 2030.
- Energy purchased from Helion "will make up less than 1% of Microsoft's total portfolio of power purchase agreements for carbon-free energy, which currently stands at 13.5 gigawatts," per Bloomberg.
- Helion is currently developing its seventh prototype and plans to demonstrate fusion-powered electricity production in 2024.
- The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory achieved a fusion reaction that produced energy last December.
- However, the lab has failed to successfully replicate the experiment in five subsequent efforts.
- As of date, no company has achieved commercially-viable fusion energy.