Zap launches fusion power plant demo system

Thursday, October 10, 2024

Zap Energy’s fusion approach (known as shear flow-stabilized Z-pinch) avoids large superconducting magnets and powerful lasers and is much smaller than traditional systems.

“From the beginning, Zap Energy’s founders had an idea for how a power plant based on a Z-pinch configuration would work,” said Matthew Thompson, vice president of systems engineering at Zap. Masu. “Our job is to develop and validate those plans by actually building, testing and maturing key technologies. Century is the next big step in that effort.”

He added: “Zapp’s fusion approach is pulsed, so it ends up operating like an internal combustion engine, with cylinders firing throughout the day to produce a steady energy output. “It will also generate a large amount of neutron flux and heat load in the system.” This is exactly the energy output you want, but it requires a unique engineering solution. Century tests many assumptions and defines the best path to the first plant. ”

Century is the first fully integrated demonstration of several fusion power plant-related technologies, including one of the largest tests ever of a plasma-facing liquid metal blanket.

It is designed to simulate plant-like behavior. Fires high voltage pulses in a steady sequence every 10 seconds for over 2 hours. In its initial configuration, it circulates 70 kilograms of hot liquid bismuth, and in its final configuration it circulates well over a ton. and test key strategies for mitigating electrode damage due to extreme heat and neutron flux.

Century structure (Image: Zap Energy)

Century’s construction is the first to use Zap’s shear flow-stabilized Z-pinch chamber design and is vertically oriented. Pulsed power is injected from the top of the device, and liquid metal circulates within a receptacle at the bottom. Independent test stands built at Zap over the past two years have validated previous generations of each of Century’s subsystems.

Century has already demonstrated tests that flow more than 1,000 continuous plasmas within three hours into a chamber lined with flowing liquid metal. The first tests of plasma and flowing liquid metal took place on June 13, and a run of 1,080 consecutive shots was completed a few weeks later.

The team is currently targeting milestones outlined as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program, which they hope to achieve by the end of the year.

Next year, the platform will gradually increase its average input power to 100 kilowatts.

Zap said its shear flow-stabilized Z-pinch technology “offers compelling fusion economics and requires orders of magnitude less capital than traditional approaches.”

“The race to commercialize fusion has historically been thought of as a triathlon: science, engineering, and commercialization,” said Zap CEO Benji Conway. “But at Zap, we are trying to swim, bike and run at the same time. Such parallel approaches are key to achieving commercial convergence on critical timescales. And we’ll make it happen soon.” The speed is coming. ”

additional investment

Zap Energy also announced the closing of $130 million in new capital, taking an important step toward commercial fusion power plants.

The Series D funding round was led by Soros Fund Management LLC, with participation from new investors including BAM Elevate, Emerson Collective, Leitmotif, Mizuho Financial Group, Plynth Energy, and Xplor Ventures. Current investors participating in the new round include Addition, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, DCVC, Energy Impact Partners, Lowercarbon Capital, and Shell Ventures.

Zapf said the new funding will be used to continue parallel development of both plasma R&D and system-level plant engineering and integration, including the next generation FuZE device series and a state-of-the-art pulsed power capacitor bank. said.