Inside Zap Energy, the Bill Gates-backed company that wants to bring fusion power to the electrical grid

• Zap Energy is a fusion startup hoping to launch a pilot fusion plant in the next few years.
• Its technology uses a Z-pinch device to create a plasma that generates a fusion reaction.
• It's just one of many companies hoping to make a breakthrough with fusion energy.

Behind the glass doors of an unassuming office building in Everett, Washington, sits a machine designed to harness the power of the sun. And maybe one day it will.

Zap Energy hopes to use its Z-pinch device to generate bountiful electricity with nuclear fusion.