That thing is interesting for plasma physics though. It isn't really trying to be a fusion reactor, as far as I can tell from following the links past the article. Is more of a scaled down testbed. I have often wondered if the people working on tokomaks are more interested in the science you can do with them, than the potential for generating electricity, even if the people providing the money aren't entirely aware of this.
Its a step toward solving how to control the plasma. So yes its a pretty important step.
Better plasma control doesn't do much to Lidsky's argument though, if you have a look through it.