Ratu Mataira: OpenStar Technologies CEO on the company's step towards producing fusion energy

A step forward in energy production, with a Wellington company hitting a significant milestone. 

The capital's OpenStar Technologies says it's created and confined plasma, allowing them to now spark fusion reactions. 

It comes as New Zealand grapples with significant supply challenges in the energy market.

Ratu Mataira is behind the development. 

He told Mike Hosking that if they're able to scale it up, it could revolutionise the energy market. 

Mataira says they're now back in the race and could beat other competitors to be the first to crack fusion energy. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Got a small peak into the future. We're a step
closer to creating fusion energy that's the power source that
fuels the sun, and billions are being pumped into projects
all over the world to recreate this. Open Star Technologies
has hit a milestone. Their machines turned on and created
first Plasma.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Now.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
The CEO and founder Ruttu Matata is with us on
this right too. Morning to you modding Mike, Where are
we in the grand scheme of things? I mean, you know,
for people who that's most of us, don't know what
we're talking about here. When you start, where you're at,
how far down the track are we?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
So we've picked up this weird concept called levitated dipole.
No one's building these things and so that means that
where we start is pretty far behind compared to a
lot of other projects that have had those billions of
dollars that you talk about spend on them. But by
getting first Plasma now we're getting this concept back in
the race, and we think it can make a difference

(00:50):
much faster than the other approaches.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
What's your big picture, what's your journey? What are you
looking to achieve?

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Well, we think this is a way of creating clear,
abundant energy without CO two or long lived bad waste
like this is a way of making sure that everybody's
energy bills kind of stay under control. And really, once
humanity cracks this, this will probably be the last type
of energy we ever need.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
Right, So where are you in the journey with everybody else?
Once somebody cracks it, and they will presumably, does everyone
become redundant or you just get in other words, you
will become like a power company.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah, it's funny. People always look at us and go, wow,
this is really high tech. But actually my dream is
just a beaver letterhead on their power bill. It's probably
the most basic product in the world these days. Once
we once we crack it, I think, you know, people's
imaginations are really the limit. You know, what would you
do with unlimited energy? You could have a flying car,

(01:53):
you can travel to space, do whatever you want.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
Really, Yeah, that's true. Well I wouldn't mind the lights
being on in winter for now. So let's get but real,
because that's that's where we are at this country. When
you say, when we crack it, will it be cracked?

Speaker 2 (02:08):
I think it will. But I'll be perfectly honest. The
reason I'm building the machine that Open Stars is doing
is because personally, I think this is probably the best
crack the other devices, they have their challenges, all of
these things are worth pursuing, but I wanted to work

(02:30):
on a machine that could actually deliver economic power and
a timescale that mattered.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
How come you've come down this track and others haven't.
Are you a genius or are you just trying your luck?

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Look? I am I trying my luck. Look broadly, the
fusion community thought that the kind of machine we're building
was basically impossible, But if you have a particular insight,
you realize that is technolology that makes it possible, and
that technology was actually mostly developed here in New Zealand

(03:06):
and Wellington in particular. I was just lucky enough to
do my PhD in a lab that was working on
this kind of stuff, and it was a coincidence of
history that you get to see the opportunities like building
this kind of levitated dipole machine that we're working on,
And so wouldn't I wouldn't say I'm a genius. I
was in the right place of the right time.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
What's the cash burn?

Speaker 2 (03:28):
The cash burn? So we've raised twenty million m zd
to day of that, we've probably spent seventeen to get
to where we are since raising our seed round, it's
taken us about two years to turn on this machine,
a little bit slower than I would have liked, but
at the same time, way faster than if we're building

(03:49):
something else.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
Right, I'm reading in the NBR this morning, there's a
question mark over where your next machine is going to be.
Is it going to be offshore?

Speaker 2 (03:56):
Look, there are some pretty great reasons to build it offshore.
There are just legacy infrastructure the northern hemisphere of the
State's Europe. They've been spending decades and there's a whole
bunch of infrastructure that we could use that's, you know,
not unique to what we do, and so that could
save us time and money. But at the same time,

(04:18):
building it with in New Zealand, with Kiwi's with the
Kiwi attitude, has also saved us a bucket load of
time and money. And so there's now this tension that
we need to figure out where this next machine is
going to be built. And my hope is that we
can figure out how to build it here in New Zealand,
because I think that's the difference between having a fusion
company Open Star versus having a fusion industry, just like

(04:41):
what we're seen with space. Once you get one company
that actually has traction, you can actually start building an
industry around that and actually have New Zealand's prosperity based
on technology and engineering, which we're pretty good at and
we should keep moving forward with.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
Couldn't agree more. Go well, well, appreciate it very much.
Right to Matida, how interesting is that? I bet you
didn't even know it was existing in Wellington. He's sort
of like a Peter bick Esk character. For more from
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