DOE ARPA-E awards Thea Energy $20 million for fusion superconducting magnets
Business
Thea Energy, a fusion power startup, just scored a $20 million grant from the Department of Energy's ARPA-E program.
The money will help them build high-temperature superconducting magnets, which are key for reactors that use strong magnetic fields to create massive amounts of energy by fusing plasma.
Thea's twisted stellarator uses standardized magnets
Instead of sticking with complicated custom magnets, Thea's reactor uses a twisted stellarator design and standardized parts: four magnet types for the 12 big magnets and a separate identical type for the more than 300 smaller ones.
This approach makes manufacturing easier and cheaper.