Fusion has long been the holy grail of clean energy — perpetually promising, perpetually out of reach. But dozens of startups are getting closer to harnessing the reactions that power the sun and stars. We go inside two Washington state fusion companies that are leading the charge — Helion Energy and Zap Energy — and breaks down their technologies in a way that doesn't require a degree in physics to understand. 

Between the two, Helion has the swagger. The 13-year-old startup has a charismatic, enthusiastic CEO who signed an unprecedented agreement to sell fusion energy to Microsoft for a data center campus in Central Washington. That deadline is only two years out as Helion leverages a $1.5 billion war chest to become the first company in the world to commercially produce electricity from fusion. 

Zap launched in 2017, but members of its founding team began working on their core technology decades earlier at the University of Washington. The startup has raised $330 million from investors and was selected for a competitive Department of Energy fusion program. Ambitious by the very nature of its work, Zap is also more cautious in its approach. 

This episode explores Helion and Zap’s strategies and each of their recently revealed, unexpected course corrections — moves that either raise concerns or signal smart new approaches. 

Sources and references

Interviews:

• David Kirtley, Helion Energy, CEO and co-founder
• Manav Singh, Helion Energy, director of electrical engineering 
• Matthew Thompson, Zap Energy, senior vice president of fission technology and former vice president of systems engineering and pulsed power
• Laura Berzak Hopkins, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, associate laboratory director for Strategy and Partnerships, and deputy chief research officer

GeekWire’s related coverage:

• Helion gives behind-the-scenes tour of secretive 60-foot fusion prototype as it races to deployment
• Helion makes big bet on ‘Tiny Merge’ fusion testbed to meet aggressive Microsoft timeline
• Inside Zap: Fusion pioneer tries to build ‘a star in a jar’ to unlock abundant clean energy
• Zap Energy’s nuclear double play: Fusion startup adds traditional fission to its lineup, in industry first

This episode was hosted by Lisa Stiffler and Laura Scott, and edited and produced by Laura Scott, with editorial assistance from Todd Bishop. Sponsored by Amazon Sustainability.