Type One Energy Secures $87M Boost Toward Stellarator Fusion Goals

Type One Energy, a fusion energy company with backing from Bill Gates, has raised $87 million from investors. This funding comes ahead of a planned $250 million Series B round. The company, based in the U.S., aims to build working fusion power plants using stellarator technology. The new money will help refine its reactor designs and move toward commercial operation. To date, Type One Energy has brought in more than $160 million from backers.

Background

Fusion energy promises a clean, endless source of power by smashing atoms together to release heat. That heat can make steam to turn turbines and generate electricity. For decades, scientists have chased this goal, but no one has built a plant that puts out more energy than it uses. Type One Energy focuses on stellarators, a type of fusion machine that uses twisted magnetic fields to hold super-hot plasma in place. Plasma is a gas of charged particles heated to millions of degrees where fusion happens.

Stellarators differ from tokamaks, the main rival design. Tokamaks need electric currents inside the plasma to shape the fields, which can cause sudden shutdowns. Stellarators use only external magnets, making them steadier and able to run non-stop. Type One Energy grew out of research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Its team draws on lessons from big projects like Germany's Wendelstein 7-X stellarator. The company wants to skip long research phases and go straight to a working power plant.

Bill Gates entered the picture early through his investment firm, Breakthrough Energy Ventures. His support signals strong interest from major players in clean tech. Type One has also worked with government labs and utilities to test its ideas. The firm plans to build its first full-scale machine, called Infinity Two, at a site tied to the Tennessee Valley Authority. This retired coal plant location could host a 350-megawatt electric fusion pilot by the mid-2030s.

Key Details

The $87 million raise pushes Type One Energy's total funding past $160 million. Investors see promise in the company's path to grid-ready fusion. The stellarator design uses high-temperature superconducting magnets. These magnets create strong fields while staying compact. The machine will be about 14 meters across and produce 800 megawatts of heat, enough for 350 megawatts of electricity after conversion.

Design and Tech Advances

Type One recently published details on its Infinity Two stellarator. Engineers used supercomputers, including the Frontier machine at Oak Ridge National Lab, to model plasma behavior. The design shows stable plasma that holds up under different conditions. It cuts heat loss from turbulence and manages energy hitting the walls. The setup includes space for divertors to remove waste helium and blankets to breed tritium fuel and shield the machine.

The company tests modular magnets made with advanced manufacturing. Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, helps build the complex coils precisely. This avoids past problems with hand-fitting parts, which delayed other stellarators. Plasma stays at around 2 million degrees Celsius, confined by the fields so it does not touch the walls and cool down.

Type One plans a prototype in the turbine hall of the old Bull Run coal plant. Construction starts next year, with completion by early 2029. This machine will prove key functions before scaling up.

"The team was able to efficiently develop deep plasma physics insights to inform the design of our Infinity Two stellarator by taking advantage of our access to high-performance computing resources." – John Canik, Chief Science and Engineering Officer, Type One Energy

What This Means

This funding lets Type One Energy speed up its work on magnets, plasma tests, and plant designs. Stellarators offer steady operation without the pulses or disruptions of tokamaks. No need for constant plasma heating means higher efficiency and lower costs over time. The design supports high uptime, key for power plants that need to run reliably.

A working fusion plant could replace fossil fuels with zero-carbon energy. Type One's pilot targets baseload power, meaning constant supply like coal or nuclear. Success here might draw more investment to fusion startups. The company partners with utilities like the Tennessee Valley Authority for real-world deployment. Building at a coal site repurposes old infrastructure and shows fusion's role in energy transition.

Challenges remain. Fusion must prove it can breed enough tritium and handle maintenance without long shutdowns. Type One's approach uses proven manufacturing and computing to cut risks. The $250 million Series B will fund prototype building and early operations. If Infinity Two hits its goals, it could put fusion electrons on the grid by the 2030s. Other firms watch closely, as stellarators gain ground in the fusion race. Type One's progress marks a step toward practical clean power at scale.