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Helion said it was granted the permit for construction of a High Impact Utility Facility for the generation of power through fusion following a public notice, period of public comment, and a subsequent decision by the Chelan County hearing examiner.
"This is another important step toward a future of abundant, clean, safe, affordable energy," said Helion co-founder and CEO David Kirtley. "As a company of builders with a single-minded focus on making electricity from fusion commercially practical, we couldn’t be more excited to move into this next phase of construction for the Orion power plant."
In July this year, Helion began construction of buildings to support the Orion fusion plant on land it is leasing from the Chelan County Public Utilities District, following a Mitigated Determination of Non-Significance through Washington's comprehensive environmental review process, the State Environmental Policy Act.
"Early on in the permitting processes, Helion reached out to Chelan County, in an effort to get a better understanding of our processes and gather feedback," said Chelan County Commissioner Kevin Overbay, who represents the Malaga area. "I applaud their willingness to engage the community, to understand and address the questions and concerns, and their commitment to doing their homework, which aided Helion in getting to this important point in the permitting process. This speaks to the character of not only the individuals working for Helion, but also the entity as a whole. Central Washington is known as the Buckle of the Power Belt for its foresight decades ago of bringing hydropower to the state. To be the home of fusion energy would enhance the legacy of our area as a continued leader in clean energy production."
Helion is developing what it says is a cost-effective, zero-carbon electrical power plant using its patented pulsed, non-ignition fusion technology. The company says its fusion power plant will provide "flexible, scalable, baseload power that is affordable, providing the world a new path to full decarbonisation of electricity generation".
Helion says its approach to fusion energy differs in three main ways from other approaches. Firstly, it uses a pulsed fusion system, which helps overcome the hardest physics challenges, keeps its fusion device smaller than other approaches, and allows it to adjust the power output based on need. Secondly, its system is built to directly recover electricity, while other fusion systems heat water to create steam to turn a turbine which loses a lot of energy in the process. Thirdly, it uses deuterium and helium-3 as fuel, which helps keep its system small and efficient.
The company has previously built seven working prototypes and in June 2021 became the first private fusion company to reach 100-million-degree plasma temperatures with its sixth fusion generator prototype, Trenta.
It earlier said that it expects Orion, its first power plant, to be online by 2028 and will target power generation of 50 MWe or greater after a one-year ramp-up period.
"Having now secured the Conditional Use Permit for the site, Helion remains on track to meet that goal," the company said.
In May 2023, Microsoft signed an agreement with Helion for the provision of electricity from its first fusion power plant. Constellation Energy will serve as the power marketer and will manage transmission for the project.
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