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I think Helion has a 50% chance of achieving net electricity next year. When hearing about fusion research, the vast majority of people immediately react with something like "fusion is always 30 years away lol". There's a good chance they will be very surprised.
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You're making the mistake of thinking the person you were replying to was actually wondering why they would do this - and not just jumping to their own cynical conclusions (which they did before "asking" their question) and cathartically posting them here.
I agree with almost everything in your post, but the way you posted this also makes me recognize a feeling I had for too long, maybe it’s time to take a break and get a few deep breaths?
I’ve learned a lot about fusion power in previous threads on the subject - all you can learn here is how bitter and cynical some people are about this particular company’s efforts.
Sounds like Altman used his personal relationship with Microsoft CEO to do this meaningless PR stunt, so he can more easily pursaude stupid money to actually invest in this.
Helion isn’t vaporware.
So, Microsoft is buying power generated from a Fusion plant that 1. doesnt exist today, and 2. is not even proven to be possible in practical terms(I mean net gain of power from a fusion plant). This kind of PR notice only serves to confuse people who care and fuel the idea that fusion could very well be vapourware. Why not just say "Microsoft commits some money for us to research if Fusion will be possible in ways w…
Because it doesn't cost MS a bean until Helion have something working, but to Helion it means they can raise money for the actual construction of the first-production machine with the investors knowing someone will pay them for it if it works.
I doubt that (unless you have some source for it which I missed, in which case sorry). It seems really unlikely that Helion would commit to a contract with penalty clauses if they didn't get money before they got fusion working.
Once (if) they have commercial fusion working they're golden, it will be trivial to raise money on excellent terms, and as such they won't need income from this contract. If this contract only gave them money at that point it wouldn't be worth very much to them.
If the contract gave them money now though... well right now it's hard to raise money. Taking a loan out could make sense. Getting the option to repay that loan by providing services could make sense. And what is a contract where you get paid now on the condition that you pay back more at the end (either in dollars in energy) if not a loan?
Besides, it's a loan which serves as great PR for both companies.
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Electricity is a commodity. How could they possibly have a working product that they can’t sell? Just hook it up to the grid and there you go.
You don't "just hook it up to the grid". You have to work with the local utility company or companies to negotiate pricing, SLAs, and safety concerns (eg: shutting off power when linemen are working). Helion's fusion reactors are small enough to fit in a couple shipping containers. The idea is that the units can be mass produced in a factory, then transported to data centers and replace the grid hookup as the primary…
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If they can't build a fusion system, aren't they sort of bust anyway?
If they could build a fusion system, are they in any danger of not having customers to the point that they're selling futures now?
What is with all of these cynical comments? Helion is an awesome company, their technology is real, and this is cool.
>oh no this might not work!
Do you guys not understand that you’re posting on the forum of a venture capital firm/startup accelerator?
Sounds like Altman used his personal relationship with Microsoft CEO to do this meaningless PR stunt, so he can more easily pursaude stupid money to actually invest in this.
What the hell is this cynicism? Seems completely inappropriate. Helion isn’t vaporware.