Thea Energy is building an economical and scalable fusion energy system utilizing arrays of mass-manufacturable magnets and dynamic software controls. Commercial fusion energy can uniquely provide a limitless source of zero-emission power for a sustainable future. Thea Energy is leveraging recent breakthroughs in computation and controls to reinvent the stellarator, a scientifically mature form of magnetic fusion technology. Thea Energy was founded in 2022 as a spin-out of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and Princeton University, where the stellarator was originally invented. Thea Energy is currently designing its first integrated fusion system, Eos, based on its planar coil stellarator architecture which will produce fusion neutrons at scale and in steady state.
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Thea Energy reposted this
We are thrilled to announce the launch of the Columbia Fusion Research Center. Built around the current Columbia Plasma Physics Laboratory, the new center will better align Columbia University’s research program with the needs of the fusion industry, drive workforce development, and boost the impact and visibility of our ongoing fusion research. Huge thanks to the sponsors who helped make it happen! Learn more : https://bit.ly/3RvDteu Artwork courtesy of Kailey Whitman
Headed to #DeepTech Week in NYC? We will be at the opening event taking place March 31 beginning at 12 p.m. ET at Newlab! 🧲 Find us at our table during the hardware showcase to see planar superconducting magnets for #FusionEnergy firsthand and learn more about our approach to building an economical and scalable #stellarator system. 🎟️ Registration and event info: https://lnkd.in/eE5juJub
CEO and co-founder Brian Berzin connected with Katie Brigham (Heatmap News) on our latest milestone, results that show arrays of simpler planar magnets can be utilized to create and control stellarator-relevant magnetic fields. ⬇️ Read the full story for more on how Thea Energy has sped up its manufacturing processes and future work to further demonstrate the resiliency of the planar coil #stellarator architecture. https://ow.ly/7Iu550VmjHi
Today, we announced the successful operation of the world’s first superconducting planar coil 3x3 magnet array system! This magnet array demonstrates that small and simple electromagnets can practically, precisely, and dynamically create and control stellarator-relevant magnetic fields. ➡️ More details of the operation and results that include the hardware validation to the leading approach for a maintainable and controllable #stellarator #fusion system can be found here: https://ow.ly/Gc0Y50Vloaq ➡️ Full preprint being submitted for peer-review is available on the Company's "Presentations & Publications" page: https://lnkd.in/ehYeRccH ➡️ Also posted via arXiv at: https://lnkd.in/eHrTyFXZ “A herculean effort from the Thea Energy team to establish the processes, infrastructure, and know-how to manufacture and test all magnets in-house has resulted in the successful hardware validation of the peer-reviewed physics basis of our novel system architecture that shows stellarators can be built without complicated coils. The operation and notably, the controllability of this magnet array demonstrates a new key enabler to commercialized fusion energy. We have built a system that uses simpler hardware paired with dynamic software controls to adjust magnet parameters in real time.” - David Gates, Ph.D., co-founder and CTO of Thea Energy “The stellarator is a well-studied form of fusion technology and the practicality brought to the design by the team at Thea Energy, combined with the established physics basis since its invention over 70 years ago at PPPL, presents another possible fusion system design. This magnet array milestone confirms a concept that was created at PPPL - that arrays of planar magnets can be utilized to create and control the magnetic fields required to stabilize the plasma to produce sustained fusion energy. I am excited to see the Company build and scale its hardware while sharing its breakthroughs and results with the broader community." - Steven Cowley, Ph.D., laboratory director at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), managed by Princeton University
Thea Energy reposted this
Last week at the Fusion Industry Association’s annual policy conference in Washington, DC, Colleen Nehl and I discussed the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Milestone-Based #Fusion Development Program, highlighting progress made to date and why the program is designed to accelerate fusion’s path to commercialization. Key points included: ⚡The fusion milestone program was modeled after NASA COTS, the project that created what we now know as the commercial space industry and responsible for significant reductions in space launch costs ⚡The rigorous diligence process by industry experts that went into awardee selection ⚡Awardees are spending their own money to achieve milestones; only when milestones are hit and certified by the DOE do awards get paid out, shielding government and taxpayer dollars from funding failure ⚡Since the program launch, the 8 awardees have raised over $350 million to support their commercialization efforts We also discussed the S&T milestones completed by Thea Energy in 2024: the downselection of a family of optimized stellarator equilibria, and the operation of a superconducting magnet coil that is the building block of Thea Energy’s approach to generating 3-dimensional, optimized #stellarator fields using only planar coils. What’s next? To ensure that we continue to lead the race to commercialize fusion energy, the Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program must be funded appropriately. The US needs to join the rest of the world including the UK, France, Germany, South Korea, and China to significantly support the commercialization of fusion. The program has already generated outsized results, but to remain competitive, we need to fund fusion commercialization efforts at a multi-billion-dollar level.
Will you be in Houston for #CERAWeek? S&P Global’s CERAWeek brings together leaders across policy and technology to discuss the world’s growing #energy demands. Co-founder and CEO Brian Berzin will speak about recent milestones validating Thea Energy’s simpler and software-controlled magnet array architecture, and the Company’s roadmap to create an efficient and scalable #fusion power plant. Join Brian’s session on Wednesday (3/12) at 10 AM CT in Pod 1 of the #CWAgora. More information: https://ow.ly/KW4U50V9wmq
In another recent peer-reviewed publication, members of the Thea Energy team share details on new advanced algorithms which allow planar shaping coils to be placed more efficiently for #stellarator systems. This paper discusses system architecture optimization for suitable #fusion plasma performance while utilizing fewer magnet coils. This technique and others allow Thea Energy to further simplify stellarator systems, use more efficient magnets, and improve access and maintainability. Read the publication "Planar coil optimization for the Eos stellarator using sparse regression" via Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion here: https://lnkd.in/ewqXzy_N The preprint is also available on ArXiv: https://lnkd.in/e553DFtw
Thea Energy reposted this
Are you familiar with the different approaches to commercial #fusion energy? I recently had the chance to discuss magnetic confinement fusion and our rapid progress towards an efficient, scalable system architecture at FusionX Group’s #FusionXInvest. In case you missed it, the discussion featured topics and themes including: - The bedrock physics basis and inherent benefits of the #stellarator (Thea Energy’s flavor of magnetic confinement fusion), including steady-state, efficient operation. - The importance of sharing progress and supporting it with results. We are proud to have recently published four peer-reviewed papers (https://bit.ly/4h8OlcZ) on the planar coil stellarator and its ability to utilize simpler hardware while addressing historical system limitations. - Thea Energy’s rapid scaling of our core HTS magnet and control system technologies, including the operation of the world’s first array of superconducting magnets which has demonstrated that we can make and control stellarator relevant magnetic fields via software. Many thanks to fellow panel members Francesco Sciortino, Kieran Furlong, Yosuke KUBO, Ratu Mataira, moderator Matthew Munderville, and other speakers throughout the event for fostering meaningful discussions on the hard work being done to scale fusion technology towards commercialization!
Thea Energy reposted this
Welcome to our newest participating organization, Thea Energy! Thea Energy is designing Eos, the Company’s initial integrated #fusion system. Eos is a #stellarator that will utilize arrays of planar coil superconducting magnets. At DIII-D, Thea Energy will evaluate interactions between boron pebble rods and plasma to assess the performance and feasibility of a pebble-based renewable wall as part of materials research efforts. We look forward to seeing how our collaborative work advances the material science and technology needed for fusion. #fusionenergy #publicprivatepartnership #tokamak #plasma #plasmaphysics #materialscience #research #collaboration
Today is the 10th anniversary of the International Day of Women & Girls in Science! As women continue to lead and contribute across STEM fields, join us in recognizing the achievements of some of our talented team members. Their know-how and skills are helping Thea Energy reinvent the world’s energy supply with clean and abundant #fusion power. #EmployeeHighlight #February11 #WomenInScience Katie Forsblom, Ketaki Tamhankar, Angelica Ottaviano, Alex van Riel, and Nicole Johnson