Commonwealth Fusion Energy (CFS) announced that it has raised $1 billion in equity funding in a new financing round aimed at accelerating its progress towards commercialization of its fusion energy technology, with the company targeting putting power on the grid in the early 2030s.
The new funding round is the largest in the fusion industry since CFS’ $1.8 billion round in 2021, according to the company, and brings Commonwealth’s total capital raised to $4 billion, representing approximately 30% of the total capital raised by the fusion industry to-date.
Fusion, the process of combining two atoms to form a single atom to release energy, has been long referred to as the “Holy Grail” of clean and abundant energy production, given its potential to produce power from hydrogen – the most common element in the universe – without producing carbon emissions associated with fossil-fuel based power, and without the highly radioactive output of nuclear fission processes. Large scale fusion energy generation has been elusive, however, given the need to create extremely high temperatures and pressure.
Spun out of MIT in 2018, Massachusetts-based CFS is working to develop the world’s first net-energy positive – producing more energy than it consumes – fusion device, to prove and scale the production of fusion energy. CFS’ approach uses a “tokamak” design, which arranges high-temperature superconductor magnets in a donut shape to confine and control plasma, in order to create the conditions necessary for fusion.
The company is currently collaborating with MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center to build SPARC, the precursor to CFS’s first commercial plant, ARC, which the company expects to be the first grid-scale fusion power plant in the world. The company has already announced PPAs with Google and Eni covering more than half the of the power that the ARC plant will produce.
CFS said that it will use the new capital to accelerate its progress to commercialization, with the company working on completing the assembly of its SPARC fusion demonstration machine, and moving forward with development the ARC power station in Chesterfield County, Virginia.
CFS CEO and Co-founder Bob Mumgaard said:
“CFS is making what once was impossible into inevitable. In the 2030s, we will put commercial fusion on the grid. We have the science that works and the proven execution that’s consistently validated by the market. We regularly welcome investors from around the world to our headquarters in Devens, Massachusetts, where they see real and tangible progress as we ready support systems and finalize the assembly of SPARC. In unlocking commercial fusion energy, we’re on a path to make an impact at a civilizational level.”
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