U.S. Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), which is developing fusion energy, has signed a more than $1-billion power purchase agreement with Italy’s energy major Eni as the two companies continue to partner to bring fusion power to commercial use.
Nuclear fusion has long been considered the answer to zero-emission by-product-free energy generation. However, no one has cracked the nuclear fusion code yet because of the challenges associated with the environment in which the process could take place.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems believes fusion power from its power plant in Chesterfield County, Virginia, could connect to the grid in the early 2030s.
Commonwealth, a spinout from MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, is a private fusion company and has Eni as a strategic partner for the industrial development of magnetic confinement fusion.
Under the power purchase agreement (PPA) agreement announced today, Eni will buy power from CFS’s 400 MW ARC fusion power plant in Virginia, which is expected to connect to the grid in the early 2030s, Eni said on Monday.
“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,” said Bob Mumgaard, co-founder and CEO of CFS.
“Our fusion power attracts diverse customers across the world — from hyperscalers to traditional energy leaders — because of the promise of clean, almost limitless energy.”
The deal with Eni is the second offtake agreement CFS has signed in three months for its first grid-scale fusion power plant.
In late June, CFS signed its first commercial commitment for its future fusion plant with Google.
The tech giant, which has been an investor in CFS since 2021, signed an offtake agreement for 200 MW of clean fusion power from the Virginia plant.
Last month, CFS announced it raised $863 million in a Series B2 funding round to help the company complete its SPARC fusion demonstration machine and advance work on its first power plant in Virginia.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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