A Fusion Breakthrough Dramatically Reduces the Cost of a Power Plant

TAE Technologies Fusion Norm Power Plant. © TAE Technologies

TAE Technologies says it has solved one of the biggest challenges in energy: making fusion more efficient, powerful, and affordable.

Working with researchers from the University of California, TAE, a fusion energy company based in California, redesigned its fusion device, named Norm, to produce 100 times more power than other systems, while costing only half as much as older designs.

Their experimental results, published in Nature Communications, show that TAE has created a simpler way to generate and control plasma. This makes the process more efficient, less complicated, cheaper, and faster to develop into a practical energy source.

TAE Technologies Fusion Norm Power Plant. © TAE Technologies

To make fusion energy work commercially, scientists need to create plasma—a super-hot form of matter—and keep it stable for long periods. TAE uses a method called Field-Reversed Configuration (FRC), a type of magnetic confinement, as the foundation for its fusion technology.