Helion Fusion Breakthrough Nears 2028 Power Goal
Helion Energy has achieved a critical milestone in its race to commercialize fusion power, with its Polaris prototype reactor reaching plasma temperatures of 150 million degrees Celsius. The Everett, Washington-based startup confirmed the achievement represents three-quarters of the heat required for its planned commercial operation. Unlike competitors targeting the early 2030s, Helion remains committed to delivering electricity to Microsoft by 2028 under a landmark power purchase agreement—a timeline that demands unprecedented technical execution.
Credit: Helion
The Temperature Milestone Explained
Reaching 150 million degrees Celsius places Helion's plasma at ten times the core temperature of our sun. This blistering heat is essential for forcing atomic nuclei close enough together to overcome natural repulsion and fuse, releasing massive energy. The milestone matters because Helion's unique reactor design requires significantly higher operating temperatures than conventional approaches—approximately 200 million degrees Celsius for optimal commercial performance using its planned deuterium-helium-3 fuel mix.
The achievement demonstrates progress in plasma confinement stability, a persistent challenge across the fusion industry. Maintaining these extreme conditions even momentarily requires precision magnetic control and advanced materials capable of withstanding intense thermal stress. Helion's seventh-generation Polaris device has now proven it can repeatedly generate and compress plasma to these extraordinary temperatures within milliseconds.
How Helion's Reactor Design Differs
While most fusion ventures pursue tokamak designs—doughnut-shaped chambers using powerful magnets to contain swirling plasma—Helion employs a field-reversed configuration resembling an hourglass. Fuel injection occurs at both wide ends, where deuterium and tritium transform into superheated plasma streams. Powerful electromagnets then accelerate these plasmas toward each other at tremendous speed.
When the plasma streams collide at the chamber's narrow midpoint, initial temperatures range between 10 and 20 million degrees Celsius. A secondary compression phase follows immediately, with magnets squeezing the merged plasma ball further in under one millisecond. This staged compression approach enables the dramatic temperature spike to 150 million degrees—a technique distinct from steady-state confinement methods used by competitors.
The compact geometry offers potential advantages in construction cost and scalability. Without the massive superconducting magnet arrays required for tokamaks, Helion's design could translate more readily to modular power plant deployment—if the physics challenges of maintaining stable plasma at these extremes can be consistently solved.
Direct Electricity Generation Advantage
Perhaps Helion's most significant differentiator lies not in heat production but in energy capture. Traditional fusion concepts extract heat from reactions to boil water, drive turbines, and generate electricity through conventional steam cycles—losing substantial energy in thermal conversion. Helion bypasses this entirely by harvesting electricity directly from each fusion pulse.
As fusion occurs, the reaction's own magnetic field pushes back against the reactor's confining magnets. This interaction induces electrical current within the system's circuits, which engineers can capture and feed directly to the grid. The approach promises higher net efficiency by eliminating multiple energy conversion steps. Company leadership reports recent circuit refinements have improved electricity recovery rates during testing phases.
This direct energy conversion method works best with fuels producing abundant charged particles rather than neutrons. That requirement shapes Helion's long-term fuel strategy and explains its pursuit of higher operating temperatures compared to deuterium-tritium-focused competitors.
The 2028 Deadline and Microsoft Agreement
Helion's aggressive timeline centers on delivering 50 megawatts of electricity to Microsoft beginning in 2028. The power purchase agreement, signed in 2023, represents the world's first commercial fusion energy contract. Crucially, this power won't come from the current Polaris prototype but from Orion—a larger commercial reactor currently under construction at Helion's Washington facility.
The 2028 target places extraordinary pressure on development schedules. While Polaris validates core physics and engineering concepts, Orion must scale those principles into a reliable, grid-connected power plant within two years. Most industry observers consider fusion commercialization before 2030 highly ambitious, making Helion's commitment both a bold statement of confidence and a significant execution risk.
Microsoft's involvement provides more than just a customer—it offers validation. The tech giant's energy demands, particularly for data centers requiring constant clean power, make fusion an attractive long-term solution if technical hurdles can be overcome. The agreement includes provisions for power delivery ramp-up over a one-year period following initial connection.
Fuel Strategy: From Tritium to Helium-3
Polaris currently operates using deuterium-tritium fuel, becoming the first privately funded fusion machine to demonstrate this capability at scale. Tritium's relative abundance makes it practical for testing phases, but Helion plans a strategic pivot for commercial operations toward deuterium-helium-3 fuel.
This alternative fuel mix requires substantially higher plasma temperatures—hence the 200 million degree Celsius target—but produces far more charged particles during fusion. Those particles interact more forcefully with magnetic fields, enhancing the direct electricity generation method central to Helion's efficiency claims. The tradeoff demands greater thermal performance but potentially delivers superior net energy output.
Helium-3 presents a supply challenge: scarce on Earth but abundant on the lunar surface. Rather than pursuing space mining immediately, Helion plans to manufacture its own helium-3 by fusing deuterium nuclei in dedicated production systems. This closed fuel cycle approach aims to create self-sustaining operations without dependence on extraterrestrial resources—a critical requirement for near-term commercialization.
The Broader Fusion Race
Helion operates within a rapidly accelerating fusion landscape. Private investment in fusion energy surpassed $10 billion by late 2025, fueling parallel development tracks across multiple technical approaches. Commonwealth Fusion Systems recently secured $863 million to advance its high-field tokamak design, while newer entrants like Type One Energy and Inertia Enterprises have raised hundreds of millions targeting alternative confinement methods.
Most competitors acknowledge commercial power delivery in the early-to-mid 2030s as realistic. This consensus timeline reflects the immense engineering challenges remaining after scientific breakeven—transforming brief fusion reactions into continuous, reliable, economically viable power generation. Helion's 2028 target deliberately breaks from this consensus, betting that its distinct technical pathway can compress development schedules dramatically.
The company raised $425 million in its latest funding round from investors including Sam Altman, Mithril Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and SoftBank. This capital supports simultaneous work on Polaris testing, Orion construction, and fuel cycle development—a resource-intensive parallel track strategy that demands flawless execution.
What Comes Next for Helion
The path forward requires Helion to achieve three sequential breakthroughs. First, Polaris must reach and sustain 200 million degree Celsius operation with deuterium-helium-3 fuel, validating the commercial temperature target. Second, engineers must demonstrate net electricity production—generating more power from fusion pulses than consumed to initiate them. Third, Orion must successfully scale these achievements into continuous operation meeting grid reliability standards.
Company leadership emphasizes electricity generation metrics over pure scientific milestones like breakeven. This pragmatic focus reflects commercial priorities: investors and customers care less about physics records than consistent, dispatchable power delivery at competitive costs. Each Polaris test cycle now prioritizes electrical output measurements alongside plasma performance data.
The next 24 months represent a decisive period for Helion and the broader fusion industry. Successful demonstration of net electricity from any private fusion venture would trigger massive market validation. For Helion specifically, hitting its temperature targets while advancing Orion construction keeps the 2028 deadline within theoretical reach—but the margin for technical setbacks remains razor thin.
Fusion energy's promise—a virtually unlimited, carbon-free power source with minimal long-lived radioactive waste—continues driving unprecedented private and public investment. Helion's progress suggests the technology may be transitioning from pure science toward engineering reality faster than many predicted. Whether that transition culminates in grid-connected power by 2028 remains one of energy's most watched technological bets.
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