MIT spinoff CFS builds grid-scale fusion power plant

US startup Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) has announced plans to construct the world’s first grid-scale nuclear fusion power plant in Virginia. The facility, named ARC, is scheduled to come online in the early 2030s and generate about 400 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 150,000 households.

The groundwork for CFS was laid during an MIT class a decade ago, when professor Dennis Whyte challenged his students to design a fusion device that would use a new kind of superconducting magnet to confine the plasma used in the reaction. It turned out the magnets enabled a more compact and economical reactor design. Whyte and several students started a company in 2017 to commercialize the concept, which has attracted more than 2 billion dollars in funding.

“This will be a watershed moment for fusion,” says Whyte. “It sets the pace in the race toward commercial fusion power plants. The ambition is to build thousands of these power plants and to change the world.” CFS is proceeding with the power plant at scale before demonstrating the technical and commercial viability of the design. Its demonstrator device, called Sparc, is expected to produce the first plasma in 2026 and net fusion energy shortly after.

A handful of US startups claim they’re close to commercial fusion power. Helion Energy, located near Seattle, has said it would provide Microsoft with fusion electricity starting in 2028. Others have already tried and failed. For example, Lockheed Martin has been working on a small fusion reactor in the previous decade. This project appears to have been quietly shelved.