Eni SpA has signed up as a customer for Commercial Fusion Systems LLC’s (CFS) planned 400-megawatt (MW) power plant in Chesterfield County, Virginia.
A joint statement said the power offtake agreement for the ARC project, expected to connect to the grid in the early 2030s, is worth more than $1 billion but did not disclose the agreed volume of electricity.
CFS is developing what it says is the world’s first commercial-scale net energy fusion machine, called SPARC. Being developed at CFS’s headquarters in Massachusetts, SPARC is a compact tokamak that would be deployed at the Virginia facility.
In 2021 CFS announced a successful test, conducted in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, of a high-temperature superconducting magnet intended to enable CFS’ tokamak design to achieve net energy from fusion.
“This strategic collaboration, with a tangible commitment to the purchase of fusion energy, marks a turning point in which fusion becomes a full industrial opportunity”, said Eni chief executive Claudio Descalzi.
“Eni has been strengthening its collaboration with CFS through its technological know-how since it first invested in the company in 2018.
“As energy demand grows, Eni supports the development of fusion power as a new energy paradigm capable of producing clean, safe and virtually inexhaustible energy”.
CFS co-founder and chief executive Bob Mumgaard said, “It is a big vote of confidence to have Eni, who has contributed to our execution since the beginning, buy the power we intend to make in Virginia”.
Earlier this year Google LLC, also an investor in CFS, agreed to purchase 200 MW from the ARC power plant with an option to offtake from additional CFS power projects.
“We’re excited to make this longer-term bet on a technology with transformative potential to meet the world’s future energy demand, and support CFS in their efforts to reach the scientific and engineering milestones needed to get there”, Michael Terrell, head of advanced energy at Google, said in a joint statement June 30.
CFS has raised nearly $3 billion to support its activities, including $863 million from a Series B2 round in which Eni and Google raised their CFS stakes and a consortium of 12 Japanese companies entered as investors.
“The oversubscribed round of capital is the largest amount raised among deep tech and energy companies since CFS’ $1.8 billion Series B round in 2021”, CFS said in a statement August 28. “CFS will use the funds to complete SPARC, its fusion demonstration machine, and progress on development work on its first ARC power plant in Virginia.
“To date, CFS has raised close to $3 billion, about one-third of the total capital invested in private fusion companies worldwide”.
To contact the author, email jov.onsat@rigzone.com
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