this post was submitted on 18 Nov 2025
91 points (98.9% liked)
Technology
76945 readers
3032 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
The electric energy needed by the ASDEX Upgrade fusion experiment to power its magnetic field coils and plasma heating facilities is supplied by large flywheel generators. An experimentation pulse in ASDEX Upgrade requires an electric power of 400 megawatts lasting 10 seconds, i.e. half as much as the whole district of Munich. Such an abrupt grid load is not permissible; so the electric energy for ASDEX Upgrade cannot be taken directly from the grid. Instead the flywheel generators gradually take the energy needed from the grid, store it and then pass it on to ASDEX Upgrade in a single pulse.
Yes, but what is the actual purpose?
Although my little fun fact doesn't apply to THIS flywheel generator, I recently learned, that flywheel generators are used all over Europe to stabilise the Continental Europe Synchronous Area: They are constantly kept spinning and because of their inertia they level any voltage drops and peaks they encounter. Learning this blew my mind because I never would've thought that such a simple technology was used to stabilise our electricity grid.
To power the magnetic coils that provide plasma containment for an experimental fusion reactor, in order to research how to create a self-sustaining fusion reaction.
Such an achievement would be a watershed moment in human history, and most likely would usher in a new technological age of energy production.
And it’s just decades away
As is tradition.
Thank you.