Commonwealth Fusion Systems relies on magnetics for long-term investment

Commonwealth Fusion Systems it said on Thursday it will sell the highest quality superconducting magnets Reality Fusionthe second in a series of moves that indicate the company will lean heavily on its electronics technology in the coming years to bring in much-needed cash.

“It’s the largest number of its kind to date for CFS,” Rick Needham, the company’s chief marketing officer, told reporters on the call.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems, or CFS, in the past sold the magnet to the WHAM experiment at the University of Wisconsin, where Realta’s startup is closely related. The physics behind WHAM supports Realta’s approach to energy fusion, known as a magnetic glass reactor.

In the magnetic glass, plasma is enclosed in a shape that resembles two 2-liter soda bottles connected at the bottom. On either side, strong magnets pierce the plasma and force it back into the center. A weak magnet rotates around the center of the bottle shape.

To build a high power reactor, Khosla-backed Realta they would only need to expand the core area, and because those magnets are weak, they are cheap. The cost per kilowatt hour should decrease as Realta’s reactors increase in size.

CFS is based on another form of magnetic confinement known as a tokamak. In a tokamak, D-shaped magnets throw out strong fields to cause the plasma to spin around like a donut inside. Over the years, the company has refined its magnetism in pursuit of putting electrons on the grid from Arc, their commercial future. He is expected to be arrested in Virginia.

The existence of CFS and Realta is based on the magnetism itself. CFS was founded in 2018 after scientists at MIT realized that a new class of commercially available superconductors could support the creation of tokamaks. Realta was founded a few years later when scientists at the University of Wisconsin “saw that there was a new technology, a game changer that would make us go back to glass (magnetic) and get the engineering advantages that this idea has,” Co-founder and CEO Kieran Furlong said.

In addition to the Realta and WHAM products, CFS has also licensed advanced magnetic technology. Type One Fusionwhich is working on the third type of rector design known as stellarator. Although this final agreement does not include CFS building a real magnet for the company, it may lead to one day, Christine Dunn, CFS director of external communications, told TechCrunch.

These actions will help CFS cover its costs of developing the magnet. The startup spent seven years and hundreds of millions of dollars building a factory capable of producing superheated magnets designed to combine electrical energy. Meanwhile, it has reached the construction of Sparc, the company’s showcase, which will not be activated until the end of this year.

“With Sparc now 70% complete, it was a great time to start supporting Realta and developing our own magnets,” Needham said.

Because Realta and Type One are pursuing different reactor designs, CFS apparently does not see them as direct competitors at this time. On the market, Realta and CFS are very different, the former focusing on industrial applications that require high temperatures.

To date, CFS has raised nearly $3 billion – a gross fines for all dollar amounts founded by fusion startups. This has put the company in a good position, giving it a way to build large equipment such as its power plant in front of its competitors. The founders are creating this as a service to integrated companies, creating technologies that would cost millions to replicate. This is true, but it also gives you a chance to make more money, even if it’s in circles.

Update 1:45 pm ET: The CFS facility makes HTS magnets, not tape, and is out of business but is making additional Sparc magnets. The issue also disrupted Rick Needham’s role as COO; he CCO.