Fusion Startup Thea Raises $100 Million to Build Prototype
(Bloomberg) -- US fusion startup Thea Energy Inc. raised $100 million to develop a demonstration project as surging electricity demand spurs interest in the technology that promises to tap the energy of the stars.
Investors in its second funding round included US Innovative Technology, General Innovation Capital Partners and Prelude Ventures, which led the company’s first major funding round in 2024, according to a statement Wednesday. New Jersey-based Thea was spun out of Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in 2022.
Thea plans to begin construction next year on its Eos demonstration system, a nuclear fusion device known as a stellarator that uses powerful magnets to contain a superheated cloud of plasma within a donut-shaped device. The firm expects it to be complete in 2030. That would help validate the fusion concept, when small atoms within the plasma fuse into larger ones, releasing more energy than is needed to sustain the reaction.
Fusion offers the potential for abundant clean energy when demand for power is climbing, driven by electrified homes, factories, and data centers. But the physics and engineering challenges are significant, and fusion remains unproven at commercial scale.
Stellarators are considered especially difficult because they require a precise shape to contain the plasma. Chief Executive Officer Brian Berzin said the biggest challenge is completing the design, which should help ease the building process. That will be key to developing commercial versions, which he expects to see in service by about 2034.
“Power plants in this world are not built by Princeton PhDs. They’re built by trades,” he said in an interview. “That’s how utility-scale power gets built.”
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