Microsoft signs up to buy electricity produced by fusion, perhaps in 2028
Fusion upstart Helion Energy has named Microsoft as its first customer, and claims the software giant should be able to use electricity made by mashing together helium atoms from 2028.
Which may come as a surprise to many, given that nuclear fusion – outside of stars and incredibly destructive bombs – remains largely theoretical. The few successes in the field have produced modest net energy gains. The most celebrated recent fusion experiment, revealed by Lawrence Livermore Laboratory's National Ignition Facility, produced 3.15 megajoules of fusion energy output using 2.05 MJ of input – for"a fraction of a second.
Which is a very significant result, but nowhere near what Microsoft needs to run its mighty server fleets. Helion Energy uses different technology to that employed at Lawrence Livermore. The startup uses a plasma accelerator that heats fuel made of deuterium and helium-3 to over 100 million degrees, in a barbell-shaped accelerator that has fuel at each end. Magnets guide the plasma to the center of the accelerator, where the two globs of fuel meet – producing electricity.Curb your enthusiasm.
But Helion is waiting for a seventh-gen machine, due to come online in 2024, to demonstrate net electricity gain. Until that happens it's a lot of hot air.
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