2. Thea Energy’s planar coil stellarator relies on these high-temperature superconducting (HTS) planar shaping coils to confine and control plasma without the complex, bespoke magnets of traditional stellarators. This hardware standardizes manufacturing while maintaining high performance. Courtesy: Thea Energy The company on Wednesday reiterated that construction of its Eos stellarator, designed to create steady-state fusion, is enabled by Thea Energy’s simplified architecture (Figure 2) as well as its ability to build fusion systems on shorter timescales and at lower costs. ā€œThomas Tull has been clear about why he wanted USIT to lead this round: he believes the stellarator is the right architecture for commercial fusion, and Thea Energy is the company that makes it commercially viable,ā€ said Gaetano Crupi, managing director at USIT. ā€œThe stellarator is an inherently stable fusion architecture that offers the most efficient path to long-term power generation, but prior 3D stellarator magnets historically made the system impractical to build. Thea Energy’s breakthroughs shift complexity from precision mechanical fabrication to software-defined controls. As energy security and rapidly increasing power demands take center stage amidst re-industrialization and the AI boom, the U.S. cannot cede leadership in fusion. Thomas believes this team and their software-based technology are a winning combination.ā€ —Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.