Utilities are racing to link up with fusion startups, with Realta Fusion the latest to benefit
Utilities are racing to link up with fusion startups, with Realta Fusion the latest to benefit
公用事业公司竞相与核聚变初创企业联手，Realta Fusion 成为最新受益者
Fusion startup Realta Fusion this week announced a deal with Madison Gas and Electric that will place one of the first grid-connected fusion power plants in the country in Wisconsin. The partnership comes as utilities around the world have been jockeying to court fusion startups, a courtship that says as much about utilities’ anxiety over future power supply as it does about fusion’s progress.
核聚变初创公司 Realta Fusion 本周宣布与麦迪逊天然气与电力公司（Madison Gas and Electric）达成协议，将在威斯康星州建设美国首批并网的核聚变发电厂之一。此次合作正值全球公用事业公司竞相向核聚变初创企业抛出橄榄枝之际，这种“示好”既反映了公用事业公司对未来电力供应的焦虑，也体现了核聚变技术的进步。
For founders and investors watching the sector, these tie-ups serve as a kind of real-world credibility check. A deal with a utility offers several advantages for a fusion startup, ranging from engineering support and permitting assistance to site selection for grid interconnection and land leases. For utilities, such deals give them early access to a technology with the potential to reshape the grid for decades to come.
对于关注该行业的创始人和投资者来说，这些合作是一种现实层面的“可信度检验”。与公用事业公司达成协议为核聚变初创企业提供了多重优势，包括工程支持、许可协助，以及电网互联选址和土地租赁等。对公用事业公司而言，此类交易使他们能够尽早接触到一项有潜力在未来几十年重塑电网的技术。
To date, only a handful of fusion startups have announced deals with utilities, which makes agreements like this one so newsworthy. Realta’s deal with Madison Gas and Electric will explore the construction of a 200-megawatt power plant — roughly enough capacity to power a small city — sometime in the mid-2030s. The utility also made an equity investment as part of the deal, though Realta did not reveal specifics and did not immediately reply to TechCrunch’s request for more information.
迄今为止，只有少数几家核聚变初创公司宣布与公用事业公司达成协议，这使得此类交易备受关注。Realta 与麦迪逊天然气与电力公司的协议旨在探索在 2030 年代中期建设一座 200 兆瓦的发电厂，其发电量足以供应一个小城市。作为协议的一部分，该公用事业公司还进行了股权投资，但 Realta 未透露具体细节，也未立即回复 TechCrunch 的置评请求。
The startup is currently converting an old Oscar Mayer factory in Madison to serve as its research and development facility. In addition to funding, Realta gains access to interconnection sites, a key advantage as power providers and users scour the country for a place to hook up to an increasingly connected electrical grid. Realta will also receive engineering and technical assistance along with financing for the eventual power plant.
该初创公司目前正在将麦迪逊的一家旧 Oscar Mayer 工厂改建为研发设施。除了资金支持外，Realta 还获得了互联站点的使用权，这在电力供应商和用户都在全国范围内寻找接入日益互联的电网地点的背景下，是一项关键优势。Realta 还将获得工程和技术援助，以及未来发电厂的融资支持。
Utilities, which are typically cautious, weren’t always so forward: For decades, fusion power appeared to be just over the horizon, but for nearly as long it failed to deliver on its promises. In the last few years, though, fusion startups have made significant strides on both scientific and engineering challenges. Those advances, juxtaposed with soaring demand from AI data centers, have brought utilities to the table.
公用事业公司通常较为谨慎，并非一贯如此激进：几十年来，核聚变能源似乎总是“近在咫尺”，但同样长的时间里，它却始终未能兑现承诺。然而，在过去几年中，核聚变初创企业在科学和工程挑战方面取得了重大进展。这些进步，加上人工智能数据中心激增的电力需求，促使公用事业公司坐到了谈判桌前。
Fusion power offers a natural fit for many utilities, which have been tested by the growth of wind and solar. Both are cheap and clean, but they only generate power when the wind blows or the sun shines. And while batteries have offered a new tool to stabilize intermittent power flows from renewables, utilities have also been searching for fossil fuel-free alternatives that can provide consistent power 24/7, so-called baseload power plants.
核聚变能源与许多公用事业公司的需求天然契合，这些公司此前一直受到风能和太阳能增长的考验。风能和太阳能虽然廉价且清洁，但只有在有风或有阳光时才能发电。尽管电池为稳定可再生能源的间歇性电力流提供了新工具，但公用事业公司一直在寻找无需化石燃料、能够 24/7 提供持续电力的替代方案，即所谓的“基荷发电厂”。
Fusion power plants, which are being designed to operate round the clock, must appear tantalizingly familiar to grid operators, even if their inner workings have a whiff of science fiction about them. Among the few other fusion startups to ink a deal is Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), which is perhaps the farthest along, given it’s now nearly two years into its partnership with Dominion Energy.
核聚变发电厂被设计为全天候运行，这对电网运营商来说一定极具吸引力，尽管其内部运作机制听起来有些科幻色彩。在少数几家达成协议的核聚变初创公司中，Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) 的进展或许最为领先，因为它与 Dominion Energy 的合作已进入近两年。
CFS has agreed to lease land from Dominion for Arc, its first commercial-scale power plant. Arc will connect to the grid near Richmond, Virginia, and it’s expected to generate 400 megawatts of electricity. Google and Italian energy company Eni have both agreed to buy electricity from the power plant, which is expected to come online in the early 2030s.
CFS 已同意从 Dominion 租赁土地，用于建设其首个商业规模发电厂 Arc。Arc 将在弗吉尼亚州里士满附近并网，预计发电量为 400 兆瓦。谷歌和意大利能源公司 Eni 均已同意购买该电厂的电力，预计该电厂将于 2030 年代初投入运营。
On the other side of the country, Helion has been working with the Chelan County Public Utility District in Washington State for its first power plant, Polaris. The startup, which leases land from the utility, intends to turn on the 50 megawatt facility in 2028 to fulfill a deal to provide electricity to Microsoft.
在国家的另一端，Helion 一直在与华盛顿州的奇兰县公用事业区（Chelan County Public Utility District）合作，建设其首座发电厂 Polaris。该初创公司从该公用事业公司租赁土地，计划在 2028 年启动这座 50 兆瓦的设施，以履行向微软提供电力的协议。
In between Helion and CFS, Type One Energy is planning to build a 350-megawatt power plant on the site of a former coal plant near Oak Ridge, Tennessee, part of a larger deal the startup has with the Tennessee Valley Authority. The startup hopes to start supplying the grid with electricity from the Infinity Two power plant sometime in the mid-2030s.
在 Helion 和 CFS 之间，Type One Energy 计划在田纳西州橡树岭附近的一座前煤电厂旧址上建造一座 350 兆瓦的发电厂，这是该初创公司与田纳西河谷管理局（Tennessee Valley Authority）更大规模协议的一部分。该初创公司希望在 2030 年代中期的某个时间点，通过 Infinity Two 发电厂开始向电网供电。
Meanwhile, in Europe, Proxima Fusion is looking to rehab an old power plant site in southern Germany. In February, the company said it would build its first commercial power plant, Stellaris, on the grounds of an old fission power plant that is being decommissioned by RWE (one of Europe’s largest utilities, formerly a major operator of Germany’s nuclear plants) after Germany decided to pull the plug on the nuclear technology. RWE is also an investor in Proxima. The startup is aiming to turn on Stellaris in the late 2030s.
与此同时，在欧洲，Proxima Fusion 正计划修复德国南部的一处旧发电厂址。今年 2 月，该公司表示将在一家旧裂变发电厂的场地上建造其首个商业发电厂 Stellaris。该裂变电厂正由 RWE（欧洲最大的公用事业公司之一，曾是德国核电站的主要运营商）进行退役处理，此前德国决定放弃核技术。RWE 也是 Proxima 的投资者。该初创公司计划在 2030 年代末启动 Stellaris。
For now, the benefits of these deals are more tangible for startups, which gain access to expertise and real estate that might otherwise be costly or simply out of reach. It’s a capital-efficient way to de-risk a famously capital-intensive business. For utilities, the potential rewards are farther afield though the payoff in terms of new power supplies could be significant.
目前，这些交易对初创公司的好处更为明显，他们获得了原本可能成本高昂或难以获得的专业知识和房地产资源。这是一种资本高效的方式，可以降低这一以资本密集著称的行业的风险。对于公用事业公司来说，潜在的回报虽然较为遥远，但从新电力供应的角度来看，其收益可能是巨大的。
Utilities are used to tackling projects with long timelines, though they aren’t accustomed to taking big risks, of which fusion power is one. Still, an underpowered grid would be an even bigger gamble. Better to bet now on a technology that promises to save their business years down the road. It might take a decade to build a commercial fusion power plant, and while that might seem like a long time, to utilities, it’s practically tomorrow.
公用事业公司习惯于处理长周期的项目，但他们并不习惯承担巨大的风险，而核聚变能源正是其中之一。尽管如此，电力不足的电网将是一场更大的赌博。现在押注于一项有望在未来几年拯救其业务的技术是更好的选择。建造一座商业核聚变发电厂可能需要十年时间，虽然这看起来很长，但对公用事业公司来说，这几乎就是明天。