Italian energy company Eni announced today that it has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) worth more than $1 billion with Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), to offtake energy from CFS’ first commercial fusion plant, which is anticipated to come online in Chesterfield County, Virginia in the early 2030s.
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 – i.e., producing more energy than it consumes – fusion device, to prove and scale the production of fusion energy. 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.
CFS recently raised more than $860 million in a Series B2 fundraising round to advance the commercialization of its fusion technology. The new PPA with Eni follows an offtake agreement recently signed with Google.
Bob Mumgaard, Co-founder and CEO of CFS, said:
“The agreement with Eni demonstrates the value of fusion energy on the grid. 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. Our fusion power attracts diverse customers across the world — from hyperscalers to traditional energy leaders — because of the promise of clean, almost limitless energy.”
Eni was an early investor in CFS in 2018, and the company increased its investment in CFS’ recent financing round. In 2023 Eni and CFS signed a Collaboration Framework Agreement to accelerate fusion energy development, with the collaboration spanning areas including operational and technological support project execution through the sharing of methodologies learned from the energy industry, and relationships with stakeholders.
Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi said:
“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. This international partnership confirms our commitment to making fusion energy a reality, promoting its industrialization for a more sustainable energy future.”
