US company plans to build first commercial fusion power plant

The company Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) has big plans: it wants to connect the world's first commercial fusion power plant to the grid in the early 2030s. Observers rub their eyes in amazement at such confident announcements. Just a few months ago , experts from the Leopoldina and other institutes declared that they did not expect fusion power plants to be in operation for at least 20 years.

In fact, CFS, a spin-off from the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has yet to prove that it has developed the technology to such an extent that it can supply more fusion energy than is required for operation. The first step is therefore to build the SPARC demonstration plant at the company's headquarters in Devens, Massachusetts, and prove its fundamental feasibility. SPARC is expected to generate the first plasma in 2026. The knowledge gained from this will then be incorporated into the construction of the commercial ARC power plant.

400-megawatt power plant planned

The plant, named ARC, is to be built in Chesterfield County in the US state of Virginia and will be connected to the grid in the early 2030s. According to the announcement, the power plant will generate around 400 megawatts of clean, CO₂-free electricity – enough to supply around 150,000 households.

CFS is developing the plant in collaboration with energy supplier Dominion Energy Virginia. While Dominion Energy is providing the land in the James River Industrial Park near Richmond and contributing technical expertise, CFS intends to finance, build and operate the power plant independently.

Strong growth in electricity demand

The technology is based on research work at MIT, which began in a university course in 2012. It uses new types of superconducting magnets, which should enable a more compact and economical reactor design. The company has so far raised more than 2 billion US dollars in investment.

Nuclear fusion is considered a promising technology for future energy supply. Unlike nuclear fission, it does not produce long-lived radioactive waste. In addition, humanity's energy requirements are constantly growing. In North America in particular, a recent ten-year outlook by a network operator alliance made it clear that there is a shortage of generation capacity. The rapid development of data centers for artificial intelligence, crypto mining, electric cars, heat pumps and the energy transition are causing electricity demand to explode.

(mki)