Earlier this year Avalanche, a Seattle startup, announced plans to open a first-of-its-kind facility for commercial-scale testing of fusion technologies in Eastern Washington. The center, called FusionWERX, is a public-private partnership offering shared resources to universities, companies, and government labs in an effort to support fusion power producers and the sector’s supply chain. The plan is for FusionWERX to take over an existing facility in Richland, which is home to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
The newest fusion announcement comes from Helion and Chelan County PUD. The potential partnership continues to evolve while Helion is working through the permitting process with the PUD, and the PUD is working on agreements to allow Helion to site their facilities on PUD property and to connect them to the grid. If Helion is able to flip the switch on a successful fusion plant on its planned timeline, it would likely be the first in the world to do so. Helion has spent the last 12 years on R&D- building prototypes, raising more than $1 billion from investors, and most recently meeting with community members near its proposed building site. The planned 50-megawatt reactor is intended to serve Microsoft, which has built multiple data centers in Washington and is building its clean energy resources for the future.
Zap Energy, working on a more compact reactor design, has also been exploring locations for a pilot facility, including a site in Centralia, where TransAlta is shutting down its operations of a coal-fired power plant. In 2023, the company was selected as one of eight commercial ventures to participate in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program, an initiative to advance the sector.
Read more:
- Groundbreaking fusion: Helion eyes rural Wash. for world’s first plant despite unproven tech – GeekWire
- Microsoft and Helion want to build the world’s first fusion plant and seize energy’s ‘Holy Grail’ – GeekWire
- Zap Energy lands $5M federal grant and ‘vote of confidence’ in pursuit of fusion power – GeekWire