Microsoft agrees to buy electricity generated from Sam Altman-backed fusion company Helion in 2028
A view of the end of Helion’s seventh generation prototype, the Polaris.
Photo courtesy Helion
Microsoft said Wednesday it has signed a power purchase agreement with nuclear fusion startup Helion Energy to buy electricity from it in 2028.
The deal is a notable vote of confidence for fusion, which is the way the sun makes power and holds promise of being able to generate nearly unlimited clean power, if it can be harnessed and commercialized on earth. For decades, fusion been lauded as the holy grail of clean energy — tantalizing because it’s limitless and clean, but always just out of reach.
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As responding to climate change has become an increasingly urgent goal for companies and countries around the globe, investors have poured $5 billion into private fusion companies looking to turn that holy grail into electrons flowing through wires.
Microsoft’s agreement to buy electricity from Helion is the first time a fusion company has inked a deal to sell electricity, according to Andrew Holland, the CEO of the Fusion Industry Association.
“This is the first time that I know of that a company has a power purchase agreement signed,” Holland told CNBC. “No one has delivered electricity, and Helion’s goal of 2028 is aggressive, but they have a strong plan for how to get there.”
Helion was founded in 2013 and currently has about 150 employees, with headquarters in Everett, Wash. One of the early and most significant investors in Helion, Sam Altman, is also a founder of OpenAI, the artificial intelligence organization that developed the chat platform ChatGPT, in which Microsoft has invested many billions of dollars. Altman believes the two deals are equally important and correlated components of the future he sees for humanity.
“My vision of the future and why I love these two companies is that if we can drive the cost intelligence and the cost of energy way, way down, the quality of life for all of us will increase incredibly,” Altman told CNBC. “If we can make AI systems more and more powerful for less and less money — same thing we are trying to do with energy at Helion — I view these two projects as spiritually very aligned.”
Samuel H. Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, speaks to media after meeting Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the Prime Minister’s office in Tokyo on April 10, 2023.
The Yomiuri Shimbun | AP
If demand for and use of artificial intelligence continues to increase, then that will increase demand for energy, too.
The potential of fusion is “unbelievably huge,” Altman told CNBC. “If we can get this to work — if we can really deliver on the dream of abundant, cheap, safe, clean energy that will transform society. It’s why I’ve been so passionate about this project for so long.”
In 2021, Altman told CNBC he put $375 million into Helion. As of Tuesday, this is still his largest investment ever, Altman told CNBC. In total, Helion has raised raised $577 million.
Why Helion is announcing a 2028 goal now
As part of the power purchase agreement, Helion is expected to have its fusion generation device online by 2028 and to reach its target power generation of 50 megawatts or more within an agreed-upon one-year ramp up period. When the fusion device is fully up to speed producing 50 megawatts of energy, it will be able to power the equivalent of approximately 40,000 homes in Washington state.
While Helion’s deal with Microsoft is to get 50 megawatts online, the company eventually aims to produce a gigawatt of electricity, which is one billion watts, or 20 million times the 50 megawatts it is selling to Microsoft.
Microsoft will pay for the megawatt hours of electricity as Helion delivers them to the grid.
“This is a real PPA, so there’s financial penalties if Helion can’t deliver power. So we’ve really put our skin in the game on this too — that we believe we can deliver this power and are committed to it with our own financial incentives,” David Kirtley, CEO at Helion, told CNBC.
Helion’s co-founders. From left to right: Chris Pihl (CTO), David Kirtley (CEO), George Votroubek (Director of Research).
Photo courtesy Helion
Altman advocated for the two companies to work together, he told CNBC, but the deal is the result of work Helion has done independently. “It was not my doing,” he said.
Microsoft and Helion have been working together for years, Kirtley told CNBC. “The first visit we had from the Microsoft team was probably three of our prototypes ago, so many years ago. And then we’ve been working very closely with their data center technology team here in Redmond,” Kirtley said.
After all, Microsoft needs power and has aggressive climate goals. Microsoft has a goal to have 100% of its electricity consumption, 100% of the time, matched by zero-carbon energy purchases by 2030. Carbon-free energy includes hydro, nuclear and renewables for Microsoft, a Microsoft spokesperson told CNBC.
“We are optimistic that fusion energy can be an important technology to help the world transition to clean energy,” Brad Smith, president at Microsoft, said in a written statement. “Helion’s announcement supports our own long term clean energy goals and will advance the market to establish a new, efficient method for bringing more clean energy to the grid, faster.”
An electrical engineer preparing for a test at Helion.
Photo courtesy Helion
For Helion to be able to deliver electricity generated by fusion to customers requires years of advance planning on the transmission and regulatory fronts.
In that way, announcing a contract now to sell electricity in 2028 gives Helion time to plan and to pick a location in Washington State to put this new fusion device.
“One reason we’re doing the announcement today is that so we can be working with the communities involved, we can be working with regulators, and the power utility on citing this right now,” Kirtley told CNBC. “Even five years is a short amount of time to be hooked up to the grid. And we want to make sure that we can do that.”
Indeed, the transmission system in the United States, meaning the series of wires that carry electricity from where it is generated to where it is used, is largely tapped out. Getting new power generation connected to the grid can take years. Helion is working with Constellation to secure its transmission needs.
‘We’re not here to build systems in a lab’
The best-known pathway to commercializing fusion is with a donut-shaped device called a tokamak. The international fusion project under construction in Southern France called ITER is building a tokamak, and Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a fusion start-up spun out of MIT which has raised more than $2 billion in funding, is using tokamak technology. For comparison, CFS plans to have its first power plant on the grid and selling electricity in the early 2030s.
Helion is not building a tokamak. It is building a long narrow device called a Field Reversed Configuration.
An infographic showing how Helion’s fusion technology works.
Infographic from Helion
Broadly speaking, Helion’s approach involves shooting plasma (the fourth state of matter after solid, liquid and gas) from both ends of the device at a velocity greater than one million miles per hour. The two streams smash into each other, creating a superhot dense plasma, where fusion occurs.
Helion is currently building its seventh-generation fusion machine, named Polaris, which it aims to produce electricity with by next year, Kirtley told CNBC.
“We’re not here to build systems in a lab. We’re here to sell electricity. This is always been the dream,” Altman told CNBC.
So far, Helion has been able to generate energy with its fusion prototypes, but it has not yet built a device that creates more electricity than it uses to run the fusion device. So the firm has a lot of work ahead.
To that, Altman says: “There were a lot of people that were doubting A.I. six months ago, too.”
“Either the technology here is going to work or not. There’s a lot of huge challenges still to figure out — how are we going to get the cost super-low, how are we going to manufacture at scale — but on the ability to actually do the physics, we feel very confident,” Altman told CNBC. “And I think it’s fine for people to doubt it. But also the way that you eventually reduced that doubt is to show to show people it actually works in the commercial setting, like delivering on this deal.”
Helion has been making progress on some key hurdles.
For example, the company has started making its own capacitors, which are sort of like super-efficient batteries and one of Helion’s very significant capital costs.
It has also started to make the very rare fuel it uses, helium three, which is a very rare type of helium with one extra neutron. It used used to get helium-three from the U.S. government strategic reserves.
Next up, Helion has to demonstrate that its devices can work reliably for long periods of time, and Kirtley has a team working on durability of the components used in the device.
If Helion can be successful, it’s going to be a landmark for the entire fusion industry.
“This really signals that a fusion era is coming. And we’re all very excited about it,” Kirtley told CNBC.
The next generation of electric vehicle batteries will be here sooner than expected. After opening the first-of-its-kind pilot plant for its all-solid-state EV batteries this week, SK On said it plans to bring the breakthrough battery tech to market ahead of schedule.
SK On’s all-solid-state EV batteries will be here in 2029
If you haven’t heard it by now, all-solid-state EV batteries are viewed as a potential game-changer, promising to unlock longer driving range, faster charging times, and better overall performance than the lithium-ion batteries used today.
Although the new battery tech shows promise, producing it on a large scale has not been so easy. That could soon change, according to leading global battery maker SK On.
After opening its new pilot plant in South Korea on September 15, SK On said it will bring all-solid-state EV batteries to market a year ahead of schedule.
SK On now plans to commercialize its ASSBs by 2029. Initially, the company aims to launch the batteries with an energy density of 800 Wh/L. Looking further out, SK On said it plans to offer all-solid-state batteries with an energy density of 1,000 Wh/L.
During the opening ceremony, SK ON’s CEO, Seok-hee Lee, said, “This pilot plant will serve as a cornerstone for SK to leap forward,” adding the company remains “at the forefront of commercializing all-solid-state batteries.”
SK On said the 4,600-square-meter (50,000 sq ft) facility utilizes its own unique “Warm Isostatic Press (WIP)-free” process, the first to employ this technology in Korea.
By applying pressure to electrodes at higher temperatures, SK On said its WIP process improves density and performance.
A WIP tech is a process that applies pressure to electrodes at higher temperatures to improve density and performance. However, since it requires a cell-sealing process, it isn’t easy to produce at a mass scale.
SK On said its unique cell design addresses the issue while reducing resistance within the electrodes. The company also improved the bonding between electrodes and solid electrolytes, resulting in “smoother ion transport, more stable charging and discharging, and longer cycle life.”
The all-solid-state pilot plant is located at the SK On Institute of Future Technology in Daejeon, which is about 150 km from Seoul. Several high-profile executives attended the event, including Andrea Maier, Head of Solid Power Korea. SK On and Solid Power teamed up last year to accelerate the promising new battery tech.
SK On will build prototypes at the facility to test quality and performance ahead of mass-scale production. The new pilot line will mainly be used to develop all-solid-state batteries, but SK said it will dedicate some lines to lithium-metal batteries as well.
The battery giant filed patents for its unique new technology in South Korea and internationally. SK On is one of the many battery manufacturers, automakers, and other startups chasing the “holy grail” of EV batteries.
Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, Toyota, and Nissan, to name a few, are developing solid-state EV technology. Leading battery makers, including CATL, BYD, and LG Energy Solutions, are also planning to bring the new tech to market.
Just last week, Mercedes-Benz announced it drove a modified EQS, equipped with solid-state batteries, for 1,205 km (750 miles) on a single charge. And the EQS still had 85 miles of range remaining.
Which company will be the first to launch solid-state batteries on a mass scale? According to SAIC MG, the new MG4, launched last month, is “the world’s first mass-produced semi-solid-state” electric vehicle. It starts at just 99,800 yuan ($14,000) in China.
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NHTSA has launched an investigation into Tesla over potential malfunctions of its door handles, resulting in people being stuck in the cars.
Tesla uses frameless doors with electronic door handles. The button to open the doors first causes the window to lower slightly, allowing the door to open. Then, it electronically unlatches, enabling the door to be swung open.
There’s also a manual latch, but it has been known to be somewhat hard to locate for people who didn’t read the owner’s manual, which is most people.
If there’s an electronic failure, especially after a crash, it can result in occupants having issues exiting the vehicle when they are in a state of panic.
Now, the NHTSA says it has been notified of electronic door handles that may cause a potential issue, specifically with the 2021 Model Y.
The automotive regulator claims to have received nine reports of parents being locked out of their vehicles when going to get their children in the back:
The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has received nine Vehicle Owners Questionnaires (VOQs) reporting an inability to open doors on Model Year (MY) 2021 Tesla Model Y vehicles. The most commonly reported scenarios involved parents exiting the vehicle after a drive cycle in order to remove a child from the back seat or placing a child in the back seat before starting a drive cycle. In those events, the parents were unable to reopen a door to regain access to the vehicle. Four of these VOQs reported resorting to breaking a window to regain entry into the vehicle. Although Tesla vehicles have manual door releases inside of the cabin, in these situations, a child may not be able to access or operate the releases even if the vehicle’s driver is aware of them. As a result, in these instances, an occupant who remains inside a vehicle in this condition may be unable to be rapidly retrieved by persons outside of the vehicle. Entrapment in a vehicle is particularly concerning in emergency situations, such as when children are entrapped in a hot vehicle. For awareness, NHTSA has a Child Heatstroke Campaign that highlights the dangers to children entrapped in hot vehicles.
Tesla reportedly changed the 12-volt battery in the cars involved in those reports, but NHTSA is concerned that there were no warnings that the 12-volt battery was about to fail, which the agency says can be dangerous.
While there’s a process to get the doors unlocked in this situation, NHTSA beleives it might be too complicated and not accessible enough:
The Tesla Owner’s Manual “Jump Starting” and “Opening the Hood with No Power” sections describe a multi-step process for restoring power to the electronic door locks in order to enable their operation from outside of the vehicle. This process requires applying 12 volts DC from a separate power source to two different points accessible from the vehicle’s exterior. The subject incidents suggest that this process may not be readily available to owners or well known. For instances where an occupant is able to access and operate interior door handles, the Tesla Owner’s Manual “Opening Doors with No Power” section identifies the manual door releases inside of the vehicle’s cabin.
The investigation is currently specifically about the 2021 Tesla Model Y, which includes a population of about 174,290 units in the US.
NHTSA’s inquiry has launched after Bloomberg released a report about the issues that come with electronic door handles. The report was about the broader use of electronic door handles in the auto industry, but it specifically highligthed Tesla due to its extensive use of the technology.
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It’s a simple fact that SUVs and crossovers have out-Darwined the station wagon. And, sure – the taller driving position offers road presence, but when it comes to real-world utility, a proper long-roof wagon can hang with the best of them while offering Teutonic driving dynamics no SUV can match. All it would take to spark a wagon revival in the US is one sleek, solidly built, and affordable entry from a mainstream brand. And VW already has the perfect candidate waiting in the wings. Meet the Škoda Vision O (Passat badges not included).
Volkswagen has spent the last three decades chasing a premium image that nobody (least of all Audi) seems to want it to have. The results speak for themselves, and VW dealers in the US have been struggling to move the brand’s $70,000 ID.Buzz minivan and Arteon – heck, the ID.7 didn’t even make it to showrooms before VW pulled the plug. Now, just as VW is set to re-launch the Scout brand with fresh, relatively accessible new products in high-demand markets, frustrated franchise dealers are suing for the right to sell Scout-branded pickups and SUVs.
What if Volkswagen corporate gave those frustrated dealers an olive branch? Something true to the brand, with a little brand heritage, that was genuinely compelling? Something like a new electric station wagon with a familiar name and a starting price tag somewhere south of $39,999.
That’s where the new Škoda Vision 0 could come in as an affordable, practical, and stylish wagon that could spearhead a return to the sort of people’s car identity that Volkswagen of America so desperately needs.
Be not afraid
When Volkswagen brought its Space Vizzion concept to the LA Auto Show a few years back, they called it a lot of things, from an SUV to a sporty crossover – but they were clearly afraid to call it a wagon. Office lore even has it that Seth Weintraub, the Blogfather, kept going around to the VW people saying, “Nice wagon you’ve got there!” and none of them laughed.
If you ever needed proof that VW’s American brand people had lost the plot, that might have been it. But the lukewarm reception they got for the low-riding long-roof VW with a luxury price tag convinced them Americans really didn’t want wagons.
By and large, that may be true. But VW is hovering around “just” 4% of US market share, and I’d bet that a lot of those four-percenters are buying VWs because of their fond memories of their old GTi or VR6 Jetta – not because they’ve bought into Volkswagen’s premium brand ambitions.
As it turned out, no one else seemed to like the ID.7 production version Space Vizzion that much, either. But, in classic VW fashion, the problem isn’t their product. To them, the problem is everyone else. And, frankly, it’s just not.
Vision 0 Concept
In Europe, Škoda is positioned as a value brand. Not cheap, per se – but not a luxury or status brand, either. Exactly how VW is still seen by many millions of Americans. If Volkswagen of America would be willing to wear that hat again, a re-badged Škoda (part of VW Group) could fit the bill. Here’s how Škoda’s CEO sees the wagon, itself:
At Škoda, our commitment to our customers – who have trusted us as leaders in the estate segment since 2016 – drives us to deliver the Vision O: a blend of innovative design, over 650 Liters of luggage space, autonomous driving capabilities, and an intuitive AI assistant. This vehicle transforms every journey into an effortless, empowering experience while advancing our sustainability goals and elevating our modern, solid, design principles.
KLAUS ZELLMER
Škoda brand CEO
Sounds great. And, built off of something like the ID.4’s SSP (Scalable Systems Platform) with the same specs as the ID.4, it could easily match that vehicle’s ~209 miles of range from the RWD, 62 kWh version, or 263/291 miles from the 82 kWh AWD/RWD versions.
On a lower, sleeker wagon that’s punching a smaller hole in the air? An SSP-based Passat wagon could even hit that magic “300 mile range” number. With the ID.4’s $40,000-ish price tag, I think that would be a real winner – at least in the context of VW’s Arteon, that sold just 5,500 units in its best year (2021).
I think VW could expect to sell 20,000 of them comfortably – putting them ahead of something like a Cybertruck in terms of outright sales and, hopefully, reminding the company’s marketing people of something they knew inherently back in the mid 1990s when they brought back the New Beetle: a halo car doesn’t have to be expensive, it just has to be loved.
People would love their Passat wagons.
That’s my take, anyway – but I’m sure I’m missing something. If you can think of a reason why a stylish electric station wagon from Volkswagen aimed right at the heart of the middle class wouldn’t make for a solid halo car, scroll down to the comments section and let me know what it is.
Original content from Electrek.
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