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Commonwealth Fusion Systems’ Brandon Sorbom and Helion’s David Kirtley discuss bringing fusion to the grid
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At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, CFS chief science officer Brandon Sorbom and Helion founder David Kirtley will discuss how their companies are advancing fusion projects SPARC and Orion to deliver electricity to the grid, including regulatory milestones and funding progress.
Engineers need to understand the concrete steps required to transition fusion from experimental devices to operational power plants, including the technical, regulatory, and financial hurdles that must be cleared before fusion can supply electricity at scale.
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CFS is developing SPARC as a demonstration machine leading to the commercial ARC plant, while Helion is building a 50-megawatt Orion plant to supply Microsoft by 2028.
Both companies have secured significant funding and taken regulatory steps, such as CFS's PJM Interconnection application and Helion's Series G closure, indicating progress toward grid connection.
Their Disrupt session will focus on the challenges that remain after scientific milestones, emphasizing the transition to reliable, commercial electricity delivery.
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The event highlights a concrete shift: two private firms are moving from laboratory-scale fusion experiments to projects that aim to generate electricity for the commercial grid, marking a tangible step beyond decades of theoretical research.
Adopting fusion power will require engineers to integrate new plasma physics hardware, manage unprecedented heat and neutron fluxes, and redesign power-plant control systems, all of which entail substantial capital expenditure and operational risk.
The discussion will expose the gap between achieving fusion-grade plasma conditions and delivering continuous, grid-scale electricity, underscoring that current milestones do not yet guarantee reliable power generation or regulatory approval.
Because the session brings together leaders from distinct fusion approaches, engineers can compare the engineering trade-offs of SPARC’s compact tokamak design with Orion’s high-beta, pulsed approach, gaining insight into which technical pathways may be more viable for large-scale deployment.
The presence of both companies on the same stage illustrates that the industry is converging on a common goal, commercializing fusion, while also revealing divergent strategies, which engineers can weigh against their own infrastructure and investment considerations.
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