Fusion energy developer Helion Energy announced it has begun initial earthwork and construction on the site of Orion power plant in Malaga, in the US state of Washington. The plant will provide electricity to technology company Microsoft.

The Orion project is set to deliver power to Microsoft data centers in the state by 2028, should development remain on track. The cloud provider signed the world's first Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for nuclear fusion back in May 2023, with Microsoft expected to offtake up to 50MW of capacity following a one-year ramp-up period.

The company is still working on a way to reliably generate energy from fusion with its prototype, called Polaris.