Google places another fusion power bet on TAE Technologies

Nobody said that commercializing fusion power would be cheap or quick. TAE Technologies said this week it raised another $150 million in a funding round that included investments from existing backers Google, Chevron, and New Enterprise associates. By the nearly 30-year-old company’s counting, it’s TAE’s twelfth round of investment. To date, it has raised about $1.8 billion, according to PitchBook, making it one of the highest funded fusion companies. TAE, formerly known as Tri Alpha Energy, worked for years in stealth developing its reactor design. The company initially used a process that started by firing two plasma balls at each other and then spinning the resulting blob with particle beams. The plasma blob — which looks like a hollow cigar — generates its own magnetic field, working alongside the reactors magnets to keep the plasma contained. In April, the company announced it no longer needed to fire two plasma balls to kick off a reaction. Instead, it was able to form a plas ... Read full article.