[gpm]

But you do have to compete with grid hookups for pricing in data centers.

I definitely buy that there's a market for small power plants that cost too much to be competitive on the grid (in some sense that's literally what generators already are), but I don't see how datacenters are in that market.

[marcosdumay]

> but I don't see how datacenters are in that market

Are you kidding? If datacenters aren't the majority of that market, they will be soon, and their share will keep growing on the short term. Only factories match their consumption, every other wholesale energy buyer is relatively tiny.

But that market will pay at most a 3x to 5x markup on the grid price. There exists a smaller one formed by far from the grid activities that will pay a much higher price.

[gpm]

Why would datacenters be willing to pay a 3x to 5x markup on the grid price when they could just connect to the grid?

[marcosdumay]

Wholesale buyers are willing to pay 3x to 5x (depends on the location) more than electricity distributors.

Electricity distributors may add a markup of over 10x on resale. For many reasons, it's easier to get energy out of them so you just won't pay the full ~10x markup on the wholesale market.

[jdminhbg]

> But you do have to compete with grid hookups for pricing in data centers.

You do, unless you sign a contract with a large datacenter operator that's willing to pay above market price for the PR benefit/green energy credits of a working fusion reactor. Which presumably is the point of this.