Fusion Holds Near a Third of the Grid as the Cold Draws Load

GENEVA — Fusion supplied close to a third of the reconnected grid through October, and as the northern winter draws load the margin between what the reactors deliver and what the cold demands is narrowing again. Aurora Fusion Works, which brought a baseload reactor online in August that nudged fusion past 31 percent, says its fleet is running near capacity with no new unit due before spring. "A third of the grid is a triumph and a ceiling in the same breath," chief executive Emeka Okonkwo said at a briefing in Geneva. "You cannot build a reactor between one cold snap and the next." Grid operators across the northern megacities report that the fusion share holds steady in percentage terms only because demand, not supply, is what moves in winter. For a household in a Warsaw tower drawing heat off that grid, the abstraction of "30 percent fusion" resolves into a simpler question — whether the baseload holds when the temperature drops and everyone reaches for the same switch at once.