The technology giant Microsoft has reached an agreement with the American company Helion Energy to be one of its first customers to buy energy produced by nuclear fusion from it, from 2028. A project with still uncertain objectives and possibly risky for the multinational.
After its successful multi-billion dollar bet in OpenAI, Microsoft is re-rolling the dice in the energy field. On May 10, 2023, Helion Energy announced on its website an exclusive agreement with the web giant: from 2028, Microsoft will be able to be one of its first customers to buy energy produced by its future nuclear fusion power plant. .
It is the first agreement of this type in the world for this technology… yet still far too immature.
Moving from prototype to power plant within 5 years
Still in development, this technology (identical to that of our sun) does the opposite of our current nuclear power plants: rather than splitting atoms to produce energy, it merges them, making it possible to create much more electricity And this, without releasing long-lived radioactive waste, solving one of the main shortcomings of our power plants today.
Several companies are therefore seeking to apply this method on a large scale in order to market this clean energy. Helion is already at the origin of six prototypes of nuclear fusion reactors and plans to start up a seventh reactor by 2024, specifies its site.
But in its partnership announcement with Microsoft, Helion promises this time that a commercial nuclear fusion power plant would be ready “by 2028”. and will aim for a minimum power generation of 50 megawatts after a one-year ramp-up period“. A quantity still quite small, but significant for this technology, specifies the online media The Verge.
Helion does not, however, specify the amount of the check put on the table by Microsoft, nor at what price the company will sell it this very expensive energy to produce. But the presence of Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI) on the Helion board must have helped convince the company of this unlikely marriage, notes The Verge .
Still immature technology
Whether Microsoft is betting on this partnership to meet its commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, or simply to get a return on investment, the bet seems risky given the time remaining and the immaturity of this technology.
The 2028 target seems very optimistic because ” earlier than typical projections for the deployment of commercial fusion power “Acknowledges Helion in its press release.
” On these issues, you should never say never. But it would be amazing if they succeeded“, thus declares toThe VergeRobert Rosner, physicist at the University of Chicago. And for good reason: the online media recalls that expert estimates rather rely on commercial production of nuclear fusion by “the end of the decade or several decades from now“.
Helion will therefore have to obtain major scientific advances in a very short time to achieve its objectives and meet its commitments, believesThe Verge.At the risk of not keeping its commitments to Microsoft.
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