Dozens of protesters were arrested near Duke Energy's headquarters as they called on the company to halt construction of a coal-fired power plant in western North Carolina.
Police estimated about 250 people gathered in front of the building in Charlotte, loudly but peacefully opposing the $2.4 billion, 800-megawatt generator. Organizers said 44 protesters were arrested for trespassing after walking across a line set up by police.
A coalition of environmental groups — which is fighting the project in court and in appeals to state air quality regulators — said they're trying to draw attention to their efforts.
"We absolutely accomplished everything we wanted. We demonstrated that we have broad base support here in Charlotte and North Carolina and the country to stop the proliferation of coal-fired plants," said John Deans, the Greenpeace USA field organizer working with the Cliffside Coalition. "It's a severe threat to the environment. We have to shut them down."
Environmentalists argue the $2.4 billion coal-fired generator will pump tons of carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the sky, but Duke Energy said new technology will reduce the pollutants emitted and their environmental impact.
Company spokeswoman Marilyn Lineberger said Duke respects free speech but has zero tolerance for illegal activities.
Lineberger said the generator is about 30 percent complete at the company's Cliffside plant, about 40 miles west of Charlotte.
Protesters, some of whom were holding signs that read "Save Our Mountains" and "No New Coal," said they came out because of their deep concern for climate change.
Among those arrested was 86-year-old Betty Robinson of Charlotte, who said she wanted younger generations to live as long as she had in a healthy environment.
"They need to stop building this. It has to be stopped," she said, echoing calls from other protesters.
Avran Friedman, 59, was the first person arrested and said he was protesting to help his family.
"I'm doing it for my children," Friedman, clad in a gray suit, said as an officer placed him in handcuffs.
"This is a real threat," he added. "How can we just stand by and watch this go up and not do a thing?"
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Robert Fey said the amount of time those arrested would have to stay in jail largely depends on whether they have a criminal record.
NB Power Smart Meters will replace aging analog meters, boosting billing accuracy, reducing leakage, and modernizing distribution as the EUB considers a $92 million rollout of 360,000 advanced meters for residential and commercial customers.
Key Points
NB Power Smart Meters replace analog meters, improving billing accuracy and reducing leakage in the electricity network.
✅ EUB reviewing $92M plan for 360,000 advanced meters
✅ Replaces 98,000 analog units; curbs unbilled kWh
✅ Improves billing accuracy and reduces system leakage
Home and business owners with old power meters in New Brunswick have been getting the equivalent of up to 10 days worth of electricity a year or more for free, a multi million dollar perk that will end quickly if the Energy and Utilities Board approves the adoption of smart meters, a move that in other provinces has prompted refusal fees for some holdouts.
Last week the EUB began deliberations over whether to allow NB Power to purchase and install 360,000 new generation smart meters for its residential and commercial customers as part of a $92 million upgrade of its distribution system, even as regulators elsewhere approve major rate changes that affect customer bills.
If approved, that will spell the end to about 98,000 aging electromagnetic or analog meters still used by about one quarter of NB Power customers. Those are the kind with a horizontal spinning silver disc and clock-face style dials that record consumption
NB Power lawyer John Furey told the energy and utilities board last week that the utility suspects it loses several million dollars a year to electricity consumed by customers that is not properly recorded by their old meters. It was a central issue in Furey's argument for smart meters amid broader debates over industrial subsidies and debt. (Roger Cosman/CBC) The analog units, some more than 50 years old and installed back when the late Louis Robichaud and Richard Hatfield were premiers in the 1960's and 1970's - are suspected of doling out millions of kilowatt hours of free power to customers by failing to register all of the current that moves through them.
"Over time, analog meters slow down and they register lower consumption of electricity than is actually occurring," said NB Power lawyer John Furey last week about the widespread freeloading of power in New Brunswick caused by the old meters.
3 per cent missed A 2010 report by the independent non-profit Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto, California and entered into evidence during NB Power's smart meter hearing said old spinning disc meters generally degrade over time and after 20 years typically fail to register nearly 3 per cent of the power that flows through them.
The average age of analog meters in New Brunswick is much older than that - 31 years - and more than 11,000 of the units are over the age of 40.
"Worn gears, corrosion, moisture, dust, and insects can all cause drag and result in an electromagnetic meter that does not capture the full consumption of the premises," said the report.
The sudden correction to full accounting and billing could naturally surprise these homeowners and even trigger consumer backlash in some cases
- Electric Power Research Institute report About 94,000 NB residential customers and 3,900 commercial customers have an old meter, according to NB Power records. The group would receive about 40 million kilowatt hours of electricity for free this year ($5.1 million worth including HST) if the average unit failed to register 2 percent of the electricity flowing through it, while elsewhere some customers are receiving lump-sum credits on electricity bills.
That is about $41 in free power for the average residential customer and $322 for the average business.
But, according to the research, there would also be hundreds of customers with meters that have slowed considerably more than the average with 0.3 percent - or close to 300 in NB Power's case - not counting between 10 and 20 percent of the electricity customers are using.
NB Power senior Vice President Lori Clark told the EUB stopping the freeloading of power in New Brunswick caused by older meters is in everyone's interest. (Roger Cosman/CBC) That's potentially $400 in free electricity in a year for a residential customer with average consumption.
"While the average meter might be only slightly slow a few could be significantly so," said the report.
"The sudden correction to full accounting and billing could naturally surprise these homeowners and result in questioning of a new meter, as seen in a shocking $666 bill reported by a Nova Scotia senior."
The report made the point analog meters can also run fast but called that "less common" meaning that if the EUB approves smart meters, tens of thousands of customers who lose an old meter to a new accurate model will experience higher bills.
'Leakage' reduction NB Power acknowledges it does not know precisely how much power its older meters give away but said whether it is a little or a lot, ending the freebies is to everyone's benefit.
"It reduces our inefficiencies, reduces our leakage that we have in the system, so that we are picking up those unbilled kilowatt hours," said NB Power senior vice president Lori Clark about ending the free power many customers unknowingly enjoy.
Smart meter critics change tone on NB Power's new business case NB Power's smart meter plan gets major boost with critical endorsements "Customers benefit from reduced inefficiencies in our system. They benefit from reduced leakage in our system and the fact that those kilowatt hours are being properly billed to the customers that have consumed the kilowatt hours."
NB Power hopes to win approval of its plan to acquire smart meters by this spring to allow installation beginning in mid 2021, even as some utilities elsewhere have backed away from smart home network projects.
AI-Powered Utility Customer Experience enables transparency, real-time pricing, smart thermostats, demand response, and billing optimization, helping utilities integrate distributed energy resources, battery storage, and microgrids while boosting customer satisfaction and reducing costs.
Key Points
An approach where utilities use AI and real-time data to personalize service, optimize billing, and cut energy costs.
✅ Real-time pricing aligns retail and wholesale market signals
✅ Device control via smart thermostats and home energy management
✅ Analytics reveal appliance-level usage and personalized savings
The latest electric utility customer satisfaction survey results from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) Energy Utilities report reveal that nearly every investor-owned utility saw customer satisfaction go down from 2018 to 2019. Residential customers are sending a clear message in the report: They want more transparency and control over energy usage, billing and ways to reduce costs.
With both customer satisfaction and utility revenues on the decline, utilities are facing daunting challenges to their traditional business models amid flat electricity demand across many markets today. That said, it is the utilities that see these changing times as an opportunity to evolve that will become the energy leaders of tomorrow, where the customer relationship is no longer defined by sales volume but instead by a utility company's ability to optimize service and deliver meaningful customer solutions.
We have seen how the proliferation of centralized and distributed renewables on the grid has already dramatically changed the cost profile of traditional generation and variability of wholesale energy prices. This signals the real cost drivers in the future will come from optimizing energy service with things like batteries, microgrids and peer-to-peer trading networks. In the foreseeable future, flat electricity rates may be the norm, or electricity might even become entirely free as services become the primary source of utility revenue.
The key to this future is technological innovation that allows utilities to better understand a customer’s unique needs and priorities and then deliver personalized, well-timed solutions that make customers feel valued and appreciated as their utility helps them save and alleviates their greatest pain points.
I predict utilities that adopt new technologies focused on customer experience, aligned with key utility trends shaping the sector, and deliver continual service improvements and optimization will earn the most satisfied, most loyal customers.
To illustrate this, look at how fixed pricing today is applied for most residential customers. Unless you live in one of the states with deregulated utilities where most customers are free to choose a service provider in a competitive marketplace, as consumers in power markets increasingly reshape offerings, fixed-rate tariffs or time-of-use tariffs might be the only rate structures you have ever known, though new utility rate designs are being tested nationwide today. These tariffs are often market distortions, bearing little relation to the real-time price that the utility pays on the wholesale market.
It can be easy enough to compare the rate you pay as a consumer and the market rate that utilities pay. The California ISO has a public dashboard -- as do other grid operators -- that shows the real-time marginal cost of energy. On a recent Friday, for example, a buyer in San Francisco could go to the real-time market and procure electricity at a rate of around 9.5 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), yet a residential customer can pay the utility PG&E between 22 cents and 49 cents per kWh amid major changes to electric bills being debated, depending on usage.
The problem is that utility customers do not usually see this data or know how to interpret it in a way that helps add value to their service or drive down the cost.
This is a scenario ripe for innovation. Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are beginning to be applied to give customers the transparency and control over the energy they desire, and a new type of utility is emerging using real-time pricing signals from wholesale markets to give households hassle-free energy savings. Evolve Energy in Texas is developing a utility service model, even as Texas utilities revisit smart home network strategies, that delivers electricity to consumers at real-time market prices and connects to smart thermostats and other connected devices in the home for simple monitoring and control -- all managed via an intuitive consumer app.
My company, Bidgely, partners with utilities and energy retailers all over the world to apply artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to customer data in order to bring transparency to their electricity bills, showing exactly where the customers’ money is going down to the appliance and offering personalized, actionable advice on how to save.
Another example is from energy management company Keewi. Its wireless outlet adaptors are revealing real-time energy usage information to Texas A&M dorm residents as well as providing students the ability to conserve energy through controlling items in their rooms from their smartphones.
These are but a few examples of innovations among many in play that answer the consumer demand for increased transparency and control over energy usage.
Electric service providers will be closely watching how consumers respond to AI-driven innovation, including providers in traditionally regulated markets that are exploring equitable regulation approaches now, to stay aligned with policy and customer expectations. While regulated utilities have no reason to fear that their customers might sign up with a competitor, they understand that the revenues from electricity sales are going down and the deployment of distributed energy resources is going up. Both trends were reflected in a March report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (via ThinkProgress) that claimed unsubsidized storage projects co-located with solar or wind are starting to compete with coal and gas for dispatchable power. Change is coming to regulated markets, and some of that change can be attributed to customer dissatisfaction with utility service.
Like so many industries before, the utility-customer relationship is on track to become less about measuring unit sales and more about driving revenue through services and delivering the best customer value. Loyal customers are most likely to listen and follow through on the utility’s advice and to trust the utility for a wide range of energy-related products and services. Utilities that make customer experience the highest priority today will emerge tomorrow as the leaders of a new energy service era.
Alberta Rate of Last Resort provides a baseline electricity price, boosting energy reliability, affordability, and consumer protection amid market volatility, aligning with grid modernization, integration, pricing transparency, and oversight from the Alberta Utilities Commission.
Key Points
A fallback electricity rate ensuring affordable, reliable power and consumer protection during market volatility.
✅ Guarantees a stable baseline price when markets spike
✅ Overseen by AUC to balance protection and competition
The Alberta government has announced significant strides in its electricity market reforms, unveiling a new plan under new electricity rules that aims to enhance energy reliability and affordability for consumers. This initiative, highlighted by the introduction of a "rate of last resort," is a critical response to ongoing challenges in the province's electricity sector, particularly following recent market volatility and increasing consumer concerns about rising electricity prices across the province.
Understanding the Rate of Last Resort
The "rate of last resort" (RLR) is designed to ensure that all Albertans have access to affordable electricity, even when they face challenges securing a competitive rate in the open market. This measure is particularly beneficial for those who may not have the means or the knowledge to navigate complex energy contracts, such as low-income families or seniors.
Under this new plan, the RLR will serve as a safety net, guaranteeing a stable and predictable rate for customers who find themselves without a competitive provider. This move is seen as a crucial step in addressing the needs of vulnerable populations who might otherwise be at risk of being shut out of the energy market.
Market Volatility and Consumer Protection
Alberta's electricity market has faced significant fluctuations over the past few years, and is headed for a reshuffle as policymakers respond to unpredictability in pricing and service availability. The rise in energy costs has caused distress among consumers, with many advocating for stronger protections against sudden price hikes.
The government's recent decision to implement the RLR is a direct acknowledgment of these concerns. By creating a baseline rate, officials aim to provide consumers with peace of mind, knowing that there is a fallback option should market conditions turn unfavorable. This initiative complements other measures aimed at enhancing consumer protections, including improved transparency in pricing, the consumer price cap on power bills being advanced, and the regulation of energy suppliers.
Broader Implications for Alberta’s Energy Landscape
This plan is not only about consumer protection; it also represents a broader shift towards a more sustainable and stable energy market in Alberta, aligning with proposed electricity market changes under consideration. The introduction of the RLR is part of a comprehensive strategy that includes investments in renewable energy and infrastructure improvements. By modernizing the grid and promoting cleaner energy sources, the government aims to reduce dependency on fossil fuels while maintaining reliability and affordability.
Additionally, this move aligns with the province's goals to meet climate targets and transition to a more sustainable energy future as Alberta is changing how it produces and pays for electricity through policy updates. As the demand for clean energy grows, Alberta is positioning itself to be a leader in this transformation, appealing to both residents and businesses committed to sustainability.
Public and Industry Reactions
The announcement has garnered mixed reactions from various stakeholders. While consumer advocacy groups have largely praised the government's efforts to protect consumers and ensure affordable electricity, some industry experts express concerns about potential long-term impacts on competition, arguing the market needs competition to remain dynamic. They argue that while the RLR provides immediate relief, it could disincentivize companies from offering competitive rates, leading to a less dynamic market in the future.
The Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) is expected to play a pivotal role in overseeing the implementation of the RLR, ensuring that it operates effectively and that any unintended consequences are addressed swiftly. This regulatory oversight will be crucial in balancing consumer protection with the need for a competitive energy market.
Conclusion
As Alberta forges ahead with its electricity market reforms, the introduction of the rate of last resort marks a significant step in enhancing consumer protection and ensuring energy affordability. While challenges remain, the government's proactive approach reflects a commitment to addressing the needs of all Albertans, particularly those most vulnerable to market fluctuations.
In this evolving energy landscape, the RLR will serve not only as a safety net for consumers but also as a foundation for a more sustainable and reliable electricity system. As Alberta continues to adapt to changing energy demands and climate considerations, the effectiveness of these measures will be closely monitored, shaping the future of the province’s electricity market.
Atlantic Canada Hurricane Resilience focuses on climate change adaptation: grid hardening, burying lines, coastline resiliency to sea-level rise, mixed forests, and aggressive tree trimming to reduce outages from hurricane-force winds and post-tropical storms.
Key Points
A strategy to harden grids, protect coasts, and manage forests to limit hurricane damage across Atlantic Canada.
✅ Grid hardening and selective undergrounding to cut outage risk.
✅ Coastal defenses: seawalls, dikes, and shoreline vegetation upgrades.
✅ Mixed forests and proactive tree trimming to reduce windfall damage.
In an era when storms with hurricane-force winds are expected to keep battering Atlantic Canada, experts say the region should make major changes to electrical grids, power utilities and shoreline defences and even the types of trees being planted.
Work continues today to reconnect customers after post-tropical storm Dorian knocked out power to 80 per cent of homes and businesses in Nova Scotia. By early afternoon there were 56,000 customers without electricity in the province, compared with 400,000 at the storm's peak on the weekend, a reminder that major outages can linger long after severe weather.
Recent scientific literature says 35 hurricanes -- not including post-tropical storms like Dorian -- have made landfall in the region since 1850, an average of one every five years that underscores the value of interprovincial connections like the Maritime Link for reliability.
Heavy rains and strong winds batter Shelburne, N.S. on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2019 as Hurricane Dorian approaches, making storm safety practices crucial for residents. (Suzette Belliveau/ CTV Atlantic)
Anthony Taylor, a forest ecologist scientist with Natural Resources Canada, wrote in a recent peer-reviewed paper that climate change is expected to increase the frequency of severe hurricanes.
He says promoting more mixed forests with hardwoods would reduce the rate of destruction caused by the storms.
Erni Wiebe, former director of distribution at Manitoba Hydro, says the storms should cause Atlantic utilities to rethink their view that burying lines is too expensive and to contemplate other long-term solutions such as the Maritime Link that enhance grid resilience.
Blair Feltmate, head of the Intact Centre on Climate Change at the University of Waterloo, says Atlantic Canada should also develop standards for coastline resiliency due to predictions of rising sea levels combining with the storms, while considering how delivery rate changes influence funding timelines.
He says that would mean a more rapid refurbishing of sea walls and dike systems, along with more shoreline vegetation.
Feltmate also calls for an aggressive tree-trimming program to limit power outages that he says "will otherwise continue to plague the Maritimes," while addressing risks like copper theft through better security.
NERC COVID-19 Grid Security Alert urges utilities to update business continuity plans, assess supply chain risk, and harden cybersecurity against spearphishing, social engineering, and remote-work vulnerabilities to protect the U.S. power grid and critical infrastructure.
Key Points
A notice urging U.S. utilities to fortify pandemic continuity, secure supply chains, and enhance cybersecurity.
✅ Mandates updates to business continuity and pandemic readiness plans
✅ Flags supply chain risks for PPE, electronics, chemicals, and logistics
✅ Warns of spearphishing, social engineering, VPN and remote-work threats
The top U.S. grid security monitor urged power utilities to prepare for the new coronavirus in a rare alert yesterday, adding to a chorus of warnings from federal and private organizations.
The North American Electric Reliability Corp. called for power providers to update business continuity plans in case of a pandemic outbreak and weigh the need to prioritize construction or maintenance projects, including updates on major projects like BC Hydro's Site C, while the COVID-19 virus continues to spread.
NERC is requiring electric utilities to answer questions on their readiness for a possible pandemic, including potential staffing strategies such as on-site sequestering, by March 20, an unusual step that underscores the severity of the threat to U.S. power systems.
The Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center, NERC's hub for getting the word out on dangers and vulnerabilities for the grid, also sent out an "all-points bulletin" on Feb. 5 addressing the coronavirus outbreak. That nonpublic document covered "potential supply chain issues stemming from a manufacturing slowdown in Asia," NERC spokeswoman Kimberly Mielcarek said.
Among offering basic hygiene and awareness recommendations, NERC's latest alert also encourages utilities to take stock of resources with supply chains affected by the virus. Because "China and nearby southeast Asian nations" have been impacted, NERC said, the supply chain hits will likely include "electronics, personal protective equipment and sanitation supplies, chemicals, and raw materials." The nonprofit grid overseer also warned of global transportation disruptions.
NERC also recommended utilities be on the lookout for cyberattacks taking advantage of the panic and using "coronavirus-themed opportunistic social engineering attacks" to hack into power companies' networks. Social engineering attacks are when hackers use social interactions to manipulate targets into giving up sensitive information.
"Spearphishing, watering hole, and other disinformation tactics are commonly used to exploit public interest in significant events," the alert said.
Electric utility representatives said they're working on or have already completed some of the steps outlined in NERC's alert, though nuclear plant workers have cited a lack of precautions in some cases.
"At this point, many of our members are activating and/or reviewing their business continuity and preparedness plans to ensure that operations and infrastructure are properly supported," said Tobias Sellier, director of media relations for the American Public Power Association, which represents around 1,400 electric utilities.
The power providers are also collaborating with other utilities such as "water, wastewater and gas," Sellier said.
Stephen Bell, senior director of media and public relations at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, said his group's members "have already taken a number of steps recommended by NERC" while continuing to maintain operations.
"Co-ops continue working with local, state and federal stakeholders to remain vigilant and prepared. These preparations include more frequent communications to key stakeholders, updating business continuity plans and monitoring new information from public health officials," said Bell.
Last week the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council (ESCC), a panel of government and industry officials charged with responding to power-sector emergencies, scheduled a conference call discussing how to protect the grid from disruption if the virus infects system operators. Ohio-based utility American Electric Power Co. said it is limiting public visits, has created a high-level response team and is working to ensure operations can continue, while reinforcing downed power line safety, if the virus keeps spreading (Energywire, March 6).
Scott Aaronson, vice president for security and preparedness of the Edison Electric Institute, which represents major investor-owned utilities, said that the electric sector practices "contingency planning" to deal with unusual situations such as the coronavirus. That means that while the type of emergency may be new, dealing with an emergency situation is not, he said. Aaronson added that many of NERC's recommendations are based on what companies are already doing.
"We have heightened awareness given the circumstances, and we have messaging to employees all the way up and down the chain — from CEOs to frontline workers — that: given this time of heightened awareness and potential vulnerability, we have to practice hygiene both of the personal and cyber variety," said Aaronson.
Aaronson said that the ESCC had another call this week with the departments of Energy and Homeland Security and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stay on top of the issue.
Hacking concerns In a cybersecurity event yesterday, Lisa Monaco, co-chair of the Aspen Cybersecurity Group and former homeland security adviser during the Obama administration, warned that the coronavirus should be considered a national security threat.
"Frankly, [pandemic] is the thing that kept me up at night amongst many, many things that kept me up at night for four years in the White House," Monaco said.
Monaco went on to say the virus will strain organizations' IT infrastructure as more employees work remotely and households face higher electricity bills, and lead to "potentially more vulnerabilities for bad actors when it comes to cybersecurity."
On Friday, the DHS's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released advice on steps that can be taken to lessen the virus's impact on supply chains and cybersecurity, as well as tips for defending against scams exploiting coronavirus fears.
Cybersecurity firms also have been reporting a dramatic increase in spear-phishing attacks, with hackers reportedly using the coronavirus topic as a lure to trick victims into clicking a malicious link. Whether it's hackers aiming at industries susceptible to shipping disruptions, attacking countries like Italy hit particularly hard by the virus or even masquerading as the World Health Organization, cybercriminals are taking full advantage of the crisis, experts say.
Greg Young, vice president of cybersecurity at Trend Micro, said businesses should continue to expect an increase in targeted phishing attacks.
"With a large majority of businesses switching to a work-from-home model and less emphasis on in-person meetings, we also anticipate that malicious actors will start to impersonate digital tools such as 'free' remote conferencing services and other cloud computing software," said Young.
Working from home can be especially risky, as often home networks are less secure than corporate offices, Young said — meaning a hacker aiming to get into an enterprise network could find an "easier attack path" from a home office.
The Department of Energy is asking employees to make sure they can work remotely when needed, even as some agencies set limits with EPA telework policy, including updating security questions and asking those with government-furnished laptops to be sure they have a VPN, or virtual private network, account. In a post added this week to the agency's website, Chief Information Officer Rocky Campione said the department over the next two weeks will be initiating steps to ensure there is adequate network capacity to carry out DOE's work.
"Ensuring the continued operations of the department's many varied missions requires diligence," Campione said.
ITER Nuclear Fusion advances tokamak magnetic confinement, heating deuterium-tritium plasma with superconducting magnets, targeting net energy gain, tritium breeding, and steam-turbine power, while complementing laser inertial confinement milestones for grid-scale electricity and 2025 startup goals.
Key Points
ITER Nuclear Fusion is a tokamak project confining D-T plasma with magnets to achieve net energy gain and clean power.
✅ Tokamak magnetic confinement with high-temp superconducting coils
✅ Deuterium-tritium fuel cycle with on-site tritium breeding
✅ Targets net energy gain and grid-scale, low-carbon electricity
It sounds like the stuff of dreams: a virtually limitless source of energy that doesn’t produce greenhouse gases or radioactive waste. That’s the promise of nuclear fusion, often described as the holy grail of clean energy by proponents, which for decades has been nothing more than a fantasy due to insurmountable technical challenges. But things are heating up in what has turned into a race to create what amounts to an artificial sun here on Earth, one that can provide power for our kettles, cars and light bulbs.
Today’s nuclear power plants create electricity through nuclear fission, in which atoms are split, with next-gen nuclear power exploring smaller, cheaper, safer designs that remain distinct from fusion. Nuclear fusion however, involves combining atomic nuclei to release energy. It’s the same reaction that’s taking place at the Sun’s core. But overcoming the natural repulsion between atomic nuclei and maintaining the right conditions for fusion to occur isn’t straightforward. And doing so in a way that produces more energy than the reaction consumes has been beyond the grasp of the finest minds in physics for decades.
But perhaps not for much longer. Some major technical challenges have been overcome in the past few years and governments around the world have been pouring money into fusion power research as part of a broader green industrial revolution under way in several regions. There are also over 20 private ventures in the UK, US, Europe, China and Australia vying to be the first to make fusion energy production a reality.
“People are saying, ‘If it really is the ultimate solution, let’s find out whether it works or not,’” says Dr Tim Luce, head of science and operation at the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), being built in southeast France. ITER is the biggest throw of the fusion dice yet.
Its $22bn (£15.9bn) build cost is being met by the governments of two-thirds of the world’s population, including the EU, the US, China and Russia, at a time when Europe is losing nuclear power and needs energy, and when it’s fired up in 2025 it’ll be the world’s largest fusion reactor. If it works, ITER will transform fusion power from being the stuff of dreams into a viable energy source.
Constructing a nuclear fusion reactor ITER will be a tokamak reactor – thought to be the best hope for fusion power. Inside a tokamak, a gas, often a hydrogen isotope called deuterium, is subjected to intense heat and pressure, forcing electrons out of the atoms. This creates a plasma – a superheated, ionised gas – that has to be contained by intense magnetic fields.
The containment is vital, as no material on Earth could withstand the intense heat (100,000,000°C and above) that the plasma has to reach so that fusion can begin. It’s close to 10 times the heat at the Sun’s core, and temperatures like that are needed in a tokamak because the gravitational pressure within the Sun can’t be recreated.
When atomic nuclei do start to fuse, vast amounts of energy are released. While the experimental reactors currently in operation release that energy as heat, in a fusion reactor power plant, the heat would be used to produce steam that would drive turbines to generate electricity, even as some envision nuclear beyond electricity for industrial heat and fuels.
Tokamaks aren’t the only fusion reactors being tried. Another type of reactor uses lasers to heat and compress a hydrogen fuel to initiate fusion. In August 2021, one such device at the National Ignition Facility, at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, generated 1.35 megajoules of energy. This record-breaking figure brings fusion power a step closer to net energy gain, but most hopes are still pinned on tokamak reactors rather than lasers.
In June 2021, China’s Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) reactor maintained a plasma for 101 seconds at 120,000,000°C. Before that, the record was 20 seconds. Ultimately, a fusion reactor would need to sustain the plasma indefinitely – or at least for eight-hour ‘pulses’ during periods of peak electricity demand.
A real game-changer for tokamaks has been the magnets used to produce the magnetic field. “We know how to make magnets that generate a very high magnetic field from copper or other kinds of metal, but you would pay a fortune for the electricity. It wouldn’t be a net energy gain from the plant,” says Luce.
One route for nuclear fusion is to use atoms of deuterium and tritium, both isotopes of hydrogen. They fuse under incredible heat and pressure, and the resulting products release energy as heat
The solution is to use high-temperature, superconducting magnets made from superconducting wire, or ‘tape’, that has no electrical resistance. These magnets can create intense magnetic fields and don’t lose energy as heat.
“High temperature superconductivity has been known about for 35 years. But the manufacturing capability to make tape in the lengths that would be required to make a reasonable fusion coil has just recently been developed,” says Luce. One of ITER’s magnets, the central solenoid, will produce a field of 13 tesla – 280,000 times Earth’s magnetic field.
The inner walls of ITER’s vacuum vessel, where the fusion will occur, will be lined with beryllium, a metal that won’t contaminate the plasma much if they touch. At the bottom is the divertor that will keep the temperature inside the reactor under control.
“The heat load on the divertor can be as large as in a rocket nozzle,” says Luce. “Rocket nozzles work because you can get into orbit within minutes and in space it’s really cold.” In a fusion reactor, a divertor would need to withstand this heat indefinitely and at ITER they’ll be testing one made out of tungsten.
Meanwhile, in the US, the National Spherical Torus Experiment – Upgrade (NSTX-U) fusion reactor will be fired up in the autumn of 2022, while efforts in advanced fission such as a mini-reactor design are also progressing. One of its priorities will be to see whether lining the reactor with lithium helps to keep the plasma stable.
Choosing a fuel Instead of just using deuterium as the fusion fuel, ITER will use deuterium mixed with tritium, another hydrogen isotope. The deuterium-tritium blend offers the best chance of getting significantly more power out than is put in. Proponents of fusion power say one reason the technology is safe is that the fuel needs to be constantly fed into the reactor to keep fusion happening, making a runaway reaction impossible.
Deuterium can be extracted from seawater, so there’s a virtually limitless supply of it. But only 20kg of tritium are thought to exist worldwide, so fusion power plants will have to produce it (ITER will develop technology to ‘breed’ tritium). While some radioactive waste will be produced in a fusion plant, it’ll have a lifetime of around 100 years, rather than the thousands of years from fission.
At the time of writing in September, researchers at the Joint European Torus (JET) fusion reactor in Oxfordshire were due to start their deuterium-tritium fusion reactions. “JET will help ITER prepare a choice of machine parameters to optimise the fusion power,” says Dr Joelle Mailloux, one of the scientific programme leaders at JET. These parameters will include finding the best combination of deuterium and tritium, and establishing how the current is increased in the magnets before fusion starts.
The groundwork laid down at JET should accelerate ITER’s efforts to accomplish net energy gain. ITER will produce ‘first plasma’ in December 2025 and be cranked up to full power over the following decade. Its plasma temperature will reach 150,000,000°C and its target is to produce 500 megawatts of fusion power for every 50 megawatts of input heating power.
“If ITER is successful, it’ll eliminate most, if not all, doubts about the science and liberate money for technology development,” says Luce. That technology development will be demonstration fusion power plants that actually produce electricity, where advanced reactors can build on decades of expertise. “ITER is opening the door and saying, yeah, this works – the science is there.”
