Load-Following Behavior

The burner can adjust output within a design band by trimming fuel and heating, letting it track a varying load rather than only running flat.

Not just baseload

A steady-state machine is often assumed to run only at one flat level, but the burner's output can be modulated. Fusion power responds to fuel feed rate, density, and temperature, all of which are actively controlled. Within a design band the machine can raise or lower output to follow the load, then hold firm — useful even for data centers, whose load has structure across the day.

The control levers

• Fuel feed rate sets the density available to burn
• Beam and ECRH power set temperature and the plug potential
• Unit dispatch — bringing units in or out — gives coarse steps
• Power electronics shape the delivered output

Bounded by stability

Output cannot swing arbitrarily fast or far — the plasma must stay within its stable operating band and the plug potential must be maintained throughout. So load following is a controlled, bounded capability, with the control system ensuring each change keeps the machine in a safe, stable regime. Coarser changes are made by dispatching whole units up or down.

The combination of firm baseload plus bounded load following, across multiple modular units, is what lets a MetroVolt site match the real shape of a computing or urban load. As elsewhere, this behavior is characterized in the design study and slated for validation on the test unit.