In 2024, fusion technology will finally move from basic research to commercial application. The reason will be the construction and completion of the first demonstration of commercial fusion. These advanced facilities are smaller than fusion power plants. For example, a laser-based fusion detector might use five to ten laser beams, while a commercial power plant could use several hundred beams. However, they have an important role to play – to prove that fusion technology works on a small scale and pave the way for larger fusion power plants. In 2024, they will do just that and begin building devices that will finally achieve the elusive goal of generating energy—in other words, more energy than is needed to start the fusion process. they do Reaching this milestone is a critical step in addressing the rapidly increasing global energy demand, as fusion energy has the potential to provide an abundant, carbon-free energy source.
In 2022, researchers at the National Combustion Facility (NIF) in California were the first to demonstrate experimentally that a fusion process could indeed produce clean energy. The experiment used high-powered lasers to store energy in a tiny fuel target — a millimeter-sized capsule containing frozen deuterium and tritium — creating the conditions for fusion. The lasers delivered 2.05 MJ of energy to the target, resulting in a fusion energy of 3.1 MJ. It was a science experiment – unlike fusion monitors, the NIF is not designed to operate continuously like a power plant. However, as a result of this scientific progress, nuclear fusion has attracted significant research, political and investor attention in recent months.
National fusion strategies have been developed in the US, UK, Japan, Germany and other countries to advance research and testing of this technology. Currently, the United States and Britain are leading the race: the US Department of Energy funds fusion research with an annual budget of about $1.4 billion and encourages private companies to accelerate commercialization. The UK similarly fosters public-private partnerships by creating an integrated cluster with universities and companies that combine their expertise. Prominent investors recognize the fusion technology opportunity, with more than $5 billion in private capital pouring into fusion companies in the past two years.
Initiatives are coming to fruition: Several fusion companies around the world, including Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Helion Energy, and General Fusion, have announced plans to begin construction of facilities in 2024 to demonstrate their technology approach. According to the latest Fusion Industry Association report, more than half of fusion companies believe that fusion energy will be delivered to the public power grid during the 2030s. In May 2023, Microsoft signed a power purchase agreement with Helion Energy to guarantee the supply of electricity generated by Fusion until 2028. In August 2023, Marvel Fusion (a fusion energy company I co-founded) announced a $150 million partnership with Colorado State University. , the largest public-private partnership to date, with the goal of building the only laser center suitable for a commercial laser-based fusion technology and the most powerful short-pulse laser system in the world. With these advances and commitments made, 2024 shows that fusion is no longer a distant dream, but an achievable future of clean and sustainable energy.
