A business located in Washington has begun building a nuclear fusion plant near Orion, Chelan County. Helion Energy wants to make clean, cheap electricity from a fuel made from water.
By 2028, the goal is to use fusion to generate energy and send it to Microsoft data centres.
“Today is an important day – not just for Helion, but for the entire fusion industry – as we unleash a new era of energy independence and industrial renewal,” said David Kirtley, Helion’s co-founder and CEO.
“Since we founded the company, we have been completely focused on preparing fusion technology for commercialization and getting electrons on the grid. Starting site work brings us one step closer to that vision.”
Making power with no carbon emissions
The energy startup, which wants to generate power with zero-carbon electricity, chose the Chelan County location because it is easy to get to and has a history of energy innovation.
The project, called Orion, is supposed to link to Washington’s main power distribution networks, allowing it to connect to the same grid just upstream of the Microsoft data centers.
Helion announced the world’s first power purchase agreement (PPA) in 2023. It says that the plant would deliver electricity to Microsoft by 2028, with Constellation electricity acting as the power marketer. Helion is still on schedule to reach that objective now that site construction has begun.
World’s pursuit of clean and abundant power
“Fusion represents an inspiring frontier in the world’s pursuit of clean and abundant power,” said Melanie Nakagawa, CSO and CVP Energy, Connectivity, and Sustainability at Microsoft.
“While the path to commercial fusion is still unfolding, we’re proud to support Helion’s pioneering work here in Washington state as part of our broader commitment to investing in sustainable energy.”
A commercial fusion power plant
Trenta, Helion’s previous prototype, was the first private business to reach a fuel temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius (180000032 degrees Fahrenheit), which is widely thought to be the right temperature for a commercial fusion power plant to work.
Helion said that it has started constructing near Malaga, Washington, on property it is renting from the Chelan County Public Utilities District (PUD). This came after a Mitigated Determination of Non-Significance (MDNS) via Washington’s SEPA, which is a full environmental assessment procedure. Since 2023, Helion has been working closely with local and state partners, including government agencies.
Helion will keep working through the last phases of the regulatory procedure so that it may build and operate a commercial fusion power plant on the site.
Helion is moving fusion forward with its prototype Polaris.
Fusion generates electricity by smashing atoms together, which releases energy without producing a lot of greenhouse gases or making a lot of radioactive waste that lasts a long time. Scientists and engineers have spent billions of dollars trying to find a method to dependably produce more energy using fusion than it takes to start and keep the reaction going.
