Chelan County’s Role in Fusion Energy Plant

Chelan County hopes to be the wild wild west of fusion energy by 2028.

That's the hope, anyways, as Everett-based Helion Energy announced their plans to place the world's first fusion energy plant in Malaga with ground breaking expected to start this summer.

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That is, if the permitting process checks out.

County Commissioner Kevin Overbay says the Department of Health lays out the guidelines for the county to follow.

"It's no different than what you would see under medical-type equipment," Overbay said. "We want to make sure we leave no stone undertoned to make sure we protect, not only the community, but the environment."

Overbay says the permitting process is like any other application to bring a business to a county - neutral and following those guidelines.

"That's what the county's role is," Overbay said. "While it is nice to encourage things to come into the community to help with spurring jobs and economy... our true role is to be that neutral source to make sure that all the boxes are checked."

Energy from the fusion plant will satisfy a power purchasing agreement with Microsoft supplying energy to their data centers throughout Chelan County.

One of the biggest questions revolves around how Chelan PUD connects their power grid to a new state of the art energy system, as the PUD has relied largely on hydropower for decades.

There are also a number of benefits to fusion, not to be confused with fision energy, as fusion creates far less waste than nuclear energy and the wastes are less toxic and have shorter half-lives.