Fusion Energy has Never Been Closer to Appearing on the Electrical Grid
A commercial fusion energy source has never been closer to appearing on the electrical grid. Amazing, major breakthroughs in fusion science and technology are accelerating the potential for fusion energy to transform the global energy market and catalyze an equitable transition to a clean economy. Alongside overcoming significant remaining technical challenges, learning about the massive scale of investment, innovation, and excitement for fusion energy was inspiring. Here are a few of my takeaways from participating in Fusion Energy Week – U.S. Fusion Energy last week:
How Fusion Works
Fusion is not fission. Fusion binds. Fission divides. Fusion could provide abundant, safe, reliable, zero-carbon energy – 4x greater than fission. Fission faces many challenges, amongst them its destructive potential, global security proliferation risks and oversight, radiation, and nuclear waste.
Yes, they share some science and technical (S&T) fundamentals and the word “nuclear”, yet the difference between fusion and fission is not just a linguistic nuance. It is not like thinking of soccer in the US and football non-US. It appears to me it is more like understanding the key differences and distinctions across cue sports: billiards, pool, and snooker.
Fusion replicates a natural process that powers the sun and stars. For almost a century, scientists have been trying to replicate this on our planet earth. To do so, scientists bring together two atoms of Hydrogen (H), the lightest element of the periodic table, to create a heavier atom, essentially isotopes of H, deuterium and tritium. Various devices and methods including magnets and lasers are being developed for fusion. The leading concept is the Tokamak, which uses electromagnetic forces to confine very hot (+100MM degrees Celsius), charged, magnetic plasma in a vessel in the shape of a donut. This plasma produces heat which is then run through a turbine and a generator to convert the thermal energy into electricity.
Should you want to dive deeper in the science behind fusion, suggest checking out the resources available at the US Fusion Energy website, the Office of Nuclear Energy at the Department of Energy, and Dr. Anne White's, Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, explanation of fusion in 5 levels of difficulty published in Wired (magazine). Hats off to anyone who gets their kids to sing along this song – “not an illusion, if we get it just right”.
Accelerating Systems Change
Systems change in the financing and deploying of clean energy that address climate change and environmental, equitable justice, require a wide range of actors collaborating across their value chains and potentially beyond their interest. More often than not in non-traditional ways.
I am excited and interested to see how the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) federal and state, tax credits and electrification rebates, as well as the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) $27 billion, are executed to accelerate energy independence, resiliency, and contribute to a fossil fuel-free world. The fight against climate change demands it is done ensuring fairness and equity, building a diverse and inclusive workforce, and fostering environmental stewardship.
However, the fact is that the marginal value one heat pump, one solar roof installation, one induction stove, one electric vehicle or powered two-wheeler, one Energy Savings Agreement, one battery recycling solution, is small relative to its contribution to helping transform the energy transition. It is also very hard to measure. We need to speed up the pace of change. We also need scale. Fusion promises it.
Mobilize & Leverage Private Capital from Public Funding
The fusion energy market is already seeing a significant amount of investment into private fusion energy companies. According to Global Corporate Venturing and Pitchbook there are now over 40 venture-backed companies developing fusion technology. According to reports from the Fusion Industry Association, over the last decade, more than $4.7 billion of private capital has entered the space. Already the three-year and five-year moving averages of private funding exceed the available public funding sources.
Fig. 1 - Private and Public Funding vs. Year. Hsu, S. U.S. Fusion Energy Development via Public-Private Partnerships. J Fusion Energ 42, 12 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10894-023-00357-9
Grow & Strengthen Public Private Partnerships
The Bringing Fusion to the U.S. Grid report combined with the White House’s vision to accelerate commercial fusion energy (read press release here) offer a shared vision, a strategic moonshot, to align public and private R&D activities with a milestone-based development program.
As a result, ambitious partnerships amongst universities, national laboratories, governments, community partners, and private companies are expected to grow and strengthen. Energy justice and equity should underpin these conversations. Teams of scientists will need to demonstrate the technological feasibility of fusion energy overcoming existing S&T challenges. This collective effort will also help drive the ecosystem towards alignment on proper regulation and safety protocols, resilient supply chains, and public education about the economic opportunity of fusion for the various stakeholders in local communities across the country.
Fusion Energy & Artificial Intelligence (AI)
A fantastic panel hosted by Dr. Cyd Cowley and featuring experts in the field including Dr. Pierre-Clément (PC) Simon, Dr. Aaron Ho, Dr. Chris Hansen, Prof. Egemen Kolemen, and Dr. Sebastian De Pascuale, dove into the impact of AI on fusion energy. Beyond the potential for AI to assist teams of scientists in managing, curating, and formatting the various data sets, AI could possibly help to identify constraints and manage sources of uncertainties in the models.
For instance, one of the challenges of dealing with very hot plasma particles in a magnetized, confined structure like the Tokamak (mentioned above), is to control the boundaries of the reaction and effectively deal with turbulence and the limits. AI could help rule out (via negativa style) the features, the instability, and the noise that interfere with and hide the important levers required for fast analysis (the unknowns unknowns of science discovery). Lastly, experts spoke about how the accessibility of open-source data-driven models can help attract and train a diverse, inclusive workforce into the fusion ecosystem.
Making Fusion Real
The Fusion Energy Week – U.S. Fusion Energy confirmed that we have never been closer to having a fusion energy source be part of our electrical grid mix. Fusion energy could complement renewables well, addressing its intermittency problem, offering grid stability, and helping us move quicker to carbon neutral targets. Despite both S&T and non-technical challenges that must be overcome so we can accelerate deployment, it is increasingly expected that the fusion ecosystem will demonstrate net electricity generation in a fusion power pilot facility before 2035.
I planned to culminate the week with a special Fusion Energy Week Tour at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Unfortunately, it got canceled. It would have been the “icing on the cake” on this very exciting and interesting week. Thank you to the organizers of Fusion Energy Week, including Dr. Arturo Dominguez and Dr. Tammy Ma for an inspiring, fun Fusion 101 session.
P.S.
Sixteen years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Colombia’s only nuclear reactor, a "non-power" reactor used for research, training, and development purposes. Dusting off this old blog post in case is of interest -Nuclear Reactions -> Entrepreneurship + Clean Energy Technologies (available in Spanish).
Photo Source Below: McDonnell, Patrick. Mutts. April 22, 2010. https://mutts.com
