ZAP ENERGY

The science came out of the University of Washington. Professor Uri Shumlak spent years working on a trick called sheared-flow stabilization.

The old problem with a Z-pinch was simple. You pinch the plasma with electric current and it gets unstable almost instantly.

It kinks and breaks apart in microseconds. Shumlak found that flowing the plasma at different speeds across its width could calm those kinks down.

In 2017 he teamed up with Benj Conway and Brian Nelson to spin the research out into a company. They set up shop near Seattle.

The pitch was blunt. Skip the building-sized machine.

Build something the size of a garage instead.

Right now Zap makes no money. They are a research company burning investor cash to prove the physics works.

The plan is to build a small fusion reactor that produces more energy than it takes to run, then sell the electricity or license the design to power companies. Their whole bet is on cost.

A Z-pinch device needs no superconducting magnets and no cryogenic cooling, so in theory it is far cheaper to build than the magnet-heavy reactors everyone else is chasing. If fusion ever gets cheap enough to compete with gas and solar, the cheapest design wins.

That is the entire argument.

FuZE is the original test device, a sheared-flow-stabilized Z-pinch that proved the concept could run repeatedly without flying apart. FuZE-Q is the next-generation machine, built to push the current higher and chase the conditions needed for net energy gain.

Both are research reactors, not products you can buy. The real product, if it ever arrives, is a compact fusion power module they have described under the name Century.

That is the commercial reactor concept meant to actually feed electricity to the grid.

Zap leaned hard into being the contrarian. While Commonwealth Fusion raised billions to build record-breaking magnets, Zap pitched itself as the lean, cheap alternative that could iterate fast.

Each prototype is small enough to rebuild quickly when something breaks. They named their main device FuZE, then built a bigger one called FuZE-Q.

That speed of testing is the strategy. They also pulled in oil and energy giants as backers, which gives them both money and a future customer base.

The story sells itself to investors. Same end goal as everyone else, a fraction of the price tag.

Nobody has ever made a Z-pinch produce net energy. The sheared-flow idea calms the plasma, but Zap still has to prove it stays calm long enough and hot enough to actually fuse fuel at a useful rate.

The plasma has to hit temperatures over 10 million degrees and hold together. Skeptics point out that the Z-pinch was abandoned for decades for good reason.

Zap is betting that the reason no longer applies. They also have less money than the magnet-based rivals.

If the physics needs many more expensive iterations, the cash could run out before they get there.

Zap raised over $200 million from a mix of climate funds and energy heavyweights. Lowercarbon Capital, the climate fund run by Chris Sacca, led the big 2022 round.

Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the fund backed by Bill Gates, is in. So are oil and gas majors Chevron and Shell through their venture arms, which is telling.

The companies that sell fossil fuels are quietly funding the thing that could replace them. DCVC also backed the company.

The energy majors give Zap money now and a possible customer later.