The archive · Climate & Energy · Strategic decision · 2013–2025
Helion bets a 2028 fusion PPA is bankable: Orion construction starts in 2025
Helion signed fusion's first power-purchase agreement with Microsoft, then began building Orion, the world's first commercial fusion plant, in July 2025.
Helion Energy
What the business is
A Washington-state fusion company building Orion, a 50 MW pulsed fusion power plant in Malaga, WA, to sell electricity to Microsoft under the world's first fusion power purchase agreement.
Starting capital：Over $1 billion raised privately, including a 2024 round led by Lightspeed and a 2025 Series G led by Thrive Capital
How it started
Founded in 2013 by David Kirtley and Chris Pihl, Helion pursued a pulsed field-reversed-configuration design that compresses plasma and recovers energy directly as electricity, skipping the steam cycle. After seven prototypes, it became the first private fusion company to reach 100 million °C plasma temperatures — the threshold commonly cited for commercial fusion — and in May 2023 signed the world's first fusion power purchase agreement with Microsoft for at least 50 MW.
What happened
In 2024 Helion raised roughly $500 million led by Lightspeed, and in 2025 closed a Series G led by Thrive Capital, taking total disclosed private funding past $1 billion. On July 21, 2025, the company announced initial earthwork and construction at the Orion site in Malaga, Washington, on land leased from the Chelan County Public Utilities District. On October 15, 2025, Chelan County's hearing examiner granted the Conditional Use Permit clearing the way for the fusion generator building.
How it ended up
Still building toward its bet: Helion says Orion remains on track to deliver at least 50 MW to Microsoft by the end of 2028, with Constellation Energy acting as power marketer.
Background
Helion's bet is that fusion can be a startup-speed product, not a half-century megaproject. Founded in 2013 by David Kirtley and Chris Pihl, the company chose a pulsed field-reversed configuration that compresses plasma in short pulses and recovers the energy directly as electricity, bypassing the steam turbine that every other fusion design still depends on. That design decision let it iterate fast: seven prototypes built and tested, and in 2021 it became the first private fusion company to reach 100 million °C plasma.
The company then turned physics progress into a commercial contract. In May 2023 Helion signed the world's first fusion power purchase agreement — Microsoft agreed to buy at least 50 MW from Helion's planned plant by 2028, with Constellation Energy as power marketer. The PPA came before the plant, the site, or a fusion megawatt ever existed, and it became the company's organizing target. Helion raised a roughly $500 million round led by Lightspeed in 2024, then a Series G led by Thrive Capital in 2025, bringing disclosed private funding past $1 billion.
Construction is the milestone that made the schedule concrete: earthwork at the Malaga, Washington site began in July 2025 on land leased from the Chelan County Public Utilities District, and on October 15, 2025 the county granted the Conditional Use Permit for the fusion generator building. Helion says Orion remains on track to deliver electrons to Microsoft by the end of 2028 — a deadline no fusion company has ever had to meet.
What has to be true
- The Microsoft PPA, signed in 2023, gave Helion a customer and a 2028 deadline before the plant was financed or permitted, forcing a build-to-contract discipline.
- Direct electric recovery from pulsed plasma avoids the steam cycle, keeping each prototype small and cheap enough to iterate seven times in a decade.
- Reaching 100 million °C plasma in a private company gave Helion the credibility to sell the PPA to Microsoft and the rounds to fund construction.
What can be applied
A credible commercial milestone — a signed contract, a permitted site, construction — is what turns a physics bet into an investable company; Helion sold the PPA first, then built toward it.
Aftermath
As of October 15, 2025, Helion holds the conditional use permit for Orion's generator building and has started construction in Malaga, WA. The company states it remains on track to deliver at least 50 MW of carbon-free electricity to Microsoft by the end of 2028, with Constellation Energy as power marketer. Private funding disclosed across its rounds totals over $1 billion, and Orion would be the first commercial fusion plant in history if it delivers.
Sources
- Helion Receives Approvals for Next Phase of Construction of World's First Commercial Fusion Power Plant
- Starting to build the world's first fusion power plant in Malaga, WA
- Everett-based Helion receives approval to build fusion power plant
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