Fusion Holds Near a Third of the Grid Through the Heat

The heat did the arithmetic this week. As cooling demand climbed across the northern megacities, grid operators leaned harder than ever on the fusion fleet that now supplies close to thirty percent of the reconnected global grid — the steady floor beneath a system that would otherwise buckle under afternoon peaks. At a dispatch center outside Lagos, shift supervisor Adaeze Nnamdi watched fusion carry the base while intermittent sources sagged in the still, hot air. "On a day like this the baseload is the difference between a warm office and a dark hospital," she said. Aurora Fusion Works, the sector's chief builder, has a new reactor syncing next month, but nothing new comes online today; what is holding the grid is the fleet already turning. Chief executive Emeka Okonkwo has cautioned against complacency, noting that a third of the grid is not the whole of it, and that the hottest hours still ride on margins measured in minutes. The floor held this week. The summer is not over.