From the time he announced MGE’s commitment to net-zero carbon electricity, MGE’s Jeff Keebler has said new technologies — in addition to investments in wind, solar and battery storage — would be needed to reach that goal by 2050.
That announcement was made in 2019, and less than one decade later, MGE believes it could have an enabling technology in the form of fusion energy.
In what is being characterized by the companies as a first-of-its-kind investment, Realta Fusion and Madison Gas and Electric have announced they will explore the possibility of jointly developing a 200 megawatt fusion energy power plant in Wisconsin by the 2030s.
The next-generation carbon-free energy technology would also advance MGE’s goal of net-zero carbon electricity by 2050.
“The short answer to whether it will help us meet that goal is, ‘Absolutely,’” said Keebler, chairman, president and CEO of MGE. “Will it be all of that goal or are there other technologies we’ll use? I’d expect we’d use other technology as well.”
MGE Energy, the parent company of MGE, already has made an equity investment in Realta as part of the first phase of the partnership. The companies are not disclosing the dollar amount at this point.
As part of the agreement, MGE has agreed to provide Realta Fusion with equipment, engineering and technical support.
The energy utility’s commitment also includes assistance for siting, permitting, interconnection and financing of the plant.
Fusing atoms
Nuclear fusion, the same atomic reaction that powers the sun, has the potential to be an emissions-free, virtually limitless source of electricity.
Fusion works by melding lightweight atoms to produce massive amounts of energy.
The venture-backed Realta Fusion is working to commercialize compact, modular fusion energy systems based on magnetic mirror fusion technology, which was developed from research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“With fusion, what we’re doing is taking very, very light elements, essentially varieties of hydrogen, and we fuse those together,” said Kieran Furlong, CEO of Realta Fusion. “And when we get them to combine, they form helium, and a very small amount of the mass is converted into a massive amount of energy.”
The energy released in the fusion process is captured in two methods, Furlong said. Most of the energy is captured initially as heat, and the heat is used to generate steam, drive a turbine and generate electricity.
“And then there’s a remaining fraction of the energy released that we’ll capture directly as electricity,” Furlong said, “and that’s something we actually demonstrated in our lab in June of this summer.”
Realta recently announced plans to lease approximately 250,000 square feet of office and industrial space for the company’s research and development facility, the Realta Forge, at OM Station — the former site of Oscar Mayer’s plant and headquarters.
The facility is located in MGE’s service territory.
Furlong also believes fusion is the technology that can enable MGE to reach its net-zero carbon goal.
“It’s definitely something we would love to see,” he said. “I think MGE getting involved with us at this stage in our development, both working towards at least a 200 megawatt power plant in the 2030s but also making a direct investment in the company now, indicates that they really want to see this happen.
“And I think it shows a real willingness and intent on the part of MGE,” Furlong said. “For a company in a notoriously conservative world, that of publicly regulated utilities, to invest in a novel technology like magnetic mirror fusion, is a real sign of intent.
“It’s a sign that MGE is stepping up and out from their peers.”
To have a plant built and operating in the 2030s, Furlong said there will be a long lead time of siting, permitting and installing that Realta and MGE will work on in parallel with the development of the plant.
Even though a fusion power plant would advance a sustainable goal such as MGE’s net-zero carbon electricity, and Furlong believes such a plant would be compatible with urban environments, he said he does not take siting for granted.
“We’re already starting those conversations now with communities,” Furlong said. “It’s not something we can wait to do at the 11th hour. I think it’s very important for us to engage with communities, explain to them what fusion is, what the benefits of it are specifically as well what the benefits to the host community are in terms of jobs and reduced atmospheric pollution around the site of a power generating facility.
“We definitely want to be able to engage with communities and have those conversations,” he said. “Our goal is to have communities asking us to come and build a future power plant in their communities, but that’s going to involve a long dialogue and lots of listening on our part.”
Since fusion produces large amounts of energy, Furlong does not anticipate building more than one plant to serve MGE customers, but he does envision building plants around the world in energy-challenged countries.
“We have plans to roll out fusion power plants across the world,” he said, “so obviously here in the U.S., but also overseas, particularly in markets that are really feeling the squeeze now on things like imported LNG, liquefied natural gas,” he said.
“You look at countries like Korea, Japan and Singapore — those are all highly dependent on energy imports for the production of their electricity,” he said. “We see those as target markets for fusion and we really see the potential for a massive export industry to be built here in the U.S.”
Backyard boost
Keebler isn’t surprised that one of the enabling technologies for net-zero carbon has been found in MGE’s own backyard, especially when he considers community assets such as the UW-Madison, University Research Park and private companies engaged in the technology space.
“Certainly we have the ecosystem that could help develop this, having this (fusion) technology come out of the university, and then having Realta be a company that wants to keep it here is really exciting,” he said. “So yes, I thought it could happen here. I probably wouldn’t have bet that it would have happened here, but I’m glad to see it is happening here.”
