---
title: Compact Fusion Energy (Field-Reversed Configuration)
type: technology
url: "https://www.envisioning.com/research/grid/usa__fusion-energy-frc"
hub: grid
summary: Helion Energy broke ground on its Orion plant in 2025 and claims it will deliver carbon-free fusion energy to Microsoft by 2028, using D-He3 fuel in a compact field-reversed configuration reactor.
---

# Compact Fusion Energy (Field-Reversed Configuration)

Helion Energy broke ground on its Orion plant in 2025 and claims it will deliver carbon-free fusion energy to Microsoft by 2028, using D-He3 fuel in a compact field-reversed configuration reactor.
- Technology Readiness Level: 5/9
- Impact: 5/5
- Investment: 5/5
Helion Energy is pursuing fusion via field-reversed configuration (FRC), firing plasma rings from both ends of a linear chamber to collide and compress at the center. Unlike tokamak designs, Helion's approach is compact, pulsed, and designed for direct electricity conversion. Their Polaris prototype is the seventh-generation machine, and the company has broken ground on the Orion commercial plant. Helion uses deuterium-helium-3 fuel, which produces fewer neutrons than conventional fusion approaches.

Fusion energy would be transformative: essentially unlimited clean energy with no carbon emissions, no long-lived radioactive waste, and fuel derived from water. The private fusion sector has attracted over $10 billion in investment, with Helion alone raising over $1 billion plus $1.8 billion in milestone-linked commitments. Sam Altman serves as chairman, and Microsoft has signed a power purchase agreement for fusion electricity by 2028.

The competitive landscape includes Commonwealth Fusion Systems (tokamak with high-temperature superconducting magnets), TAE Technologies (proton-boron-11), and Zap Energy (sheared-flow Z-pinch). The US leads in private fusion investment but faces competition from Chinese state-backed programs. A working fusion reactor would reshape global energy geopolitics, potentially making hydrocarbon resources strategically irrelevant.

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Source: Envisioning — Technology Research Institute (https://www.envisioning.com/research/grid/usa__fusion-energy-frc)