Interview with Brian Berzin of Thea Energy

As part of The Fusion Report’s interview series with leading fusion companies, we spoke with Brian Berzin, CEO of Thea Energy. Thea, which was incorporated in 2022, is a “spinout” of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), and is focused on the development of a commercial fusion stellarator for electrical power. Like all stellarators, Thea uses magnetic fields to compress and heat its plasma, also known as magnetic confinement fusion (MCF).

Planar Array Magnets – Bringing Software to MCF

The secret sauce of Thea’s stellarator is in how they use their magnets to confine the plasma. In most stellarators, complex rings of magnets are utilized to provide the “twist” that makes the plasma inside stable. These magnetic systems tend to be very complex to fabricate and assemble. In the Thea system, an array of smaller, planar (i.e. flat) magnets is utilized. This combination of magnets, known as a planar array, utilizes software algorithms which can dynamically control the power of the system’s magnetic fields. This allows the array of magnets to create any arbitrary magnetic field and precisely change the strength of each magnet to correct for any hardware variabilities. 

The result is a system that is far easier to control, while eliminating the need for extremely complex magnets with small engineering tolerances that characterize most stellarator systems. Because of the relaxed tolerances, Thea’s planar array magnetics system is easier to mass-manufacture; this in turn enables power plants that can be more easily built and deployed.

Thea Energy Canis Magnet Array

The Interview With Brian Berzin (Thea CEO)

Tell us about the origin of Thea Energy: Thea was founded by Brian Berzin (CEO) and David Gates (CTO). Brian is an electrical engineer, while David is a physicist who worked for roughly 25 years at PPPL, including as Department Head and Managing Physicist. They started discussing the possibilities of commercializing fusion energy and eventually founded Thea in 2022. From their perspective, the things that enabled companies to start thinking about commercializing fusion were:

• The incredible fidelity and resolution of the physics and electromagnetic models that began to emerge in the late 2010s. These models allow hardware to be engineered rather than guessed at/iterated upon.
• High-temperature superconductor (HTS) tapes, which simplifies the production of high-field strength magnets using mass-produced materials.
• Advancements in machine learning and (later) artificial intelligence, which enable the control of complex magnetic fields and plasmas.
• The efficiency of US capital markets, which sort through concepts which are effective and have promise and eliminate those that do not.

Who are your investors? Thea raised its first capital round (a Series A of $20M) in 2023. As well as the ‘classical’ fusion investors, Thea’s investors include Hitachi. Hitachi is valuable in helping Thea understand the complexities of power plants, which Hitachi has built in large numbers. One of the key efforts that Thea engaged in was publishing their designs and studies in peer reviewed journals, an effort that they did over 15 times. This had the double benefit of allowing input from the larger fusion and academic communities, as well as providing validation of Thea’s approach for their investors.

Who are your target customers? Like most of the companies in fusion energy, Thea’s target customers are utilities, hyperscale data centers, and other large consumers of energy.

What makes your approach unique in the market? Thea’s uniqueness is in the use of planar arrays of magnets. From its perspective, it allows the Company to build systems that are ‘software defined’, shifting the system’s complexity away from the hardware, and these software stacks can be updated over time as more is learned about controlling plasmas.

What are your biggest supply chain challenges? Scaling is the big challenge – how do you build hundreds of power plants. The good thing is that for MCF, a lot of the supply chain “needs” are the same or similar across the fusion companies, so there is the ability to share approaches. On the supply chain side, Thea’s approach is to minimize the need for “FOAK” technologies, which slow down progress and increase risks. The phased array approach helps with this – eliminates the need for extremely small engineering tolerances, which is critical to scaling. Having Hitachi as an investor is also helpful – they build power plants as a part of their business, and are helping Thea understand how to do so.

Who will be the first country with commercial fusion? The US has long been the leader here, benefiting both from its very efficient capital markets, and from the leading-edge work in fusion energy since the 1950s. Thea is proud to be an inaugural awardee in the US Department of Energy (DOE)’s Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program. The program is modeled after NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, which led to the commercial space launch industry. The program funds awards once a specific milestone on the path to a fusion power plant is reached and validated by a team of external expert reviewers. What is happening now is that governments across the world are “waking up” to the benefits of fusion, and are funding large fusion efforts. This is not only true of China, but also Germany, Japan, the UK, France, and South Korea, and these funds are for commercialization, and not just fusion science. It is an area where without increased support, including for the Milestone-Based program, the US risks falling behind other countries.

When will commercial fusion power be on the grid? Like many in the industry, Thea believes that this can be achieved by the mid-2030s. Thea is utilizing a two-step approach to achieve this same goal. The first step (“Eos”) will run at (roughly) Q=1 for extended periods. They will try to achieve this by the end of the decade; the goal is to buy down risk with this first system, as well as to inform the next design. The second phase (which will start construction before Eos is completed, and in this decade) will be Thea’s first fusion power plant (“Helios”). Helios will leverage the same software-based planar coil architecture as Eos and put abundant fusion power on the grid around 2035 (or earlier).

Summary: Fusion is Closer Than We Think

From Thea’s perspective, there are a lot of great companies in the fusion energy space, trying different approaches and getting closer by the day. As with anything, the key is to outpace the competition, whether it is competitor companies or countries. The competition of government-led efforts such as in China, Germany, the UK, Japan, and even South Korea, all countries with a history of being able to commercialize cutting edge and impactful technologies, cannot be understated. We need increased support in the US to secure leadership in fusion energy commercialization.