Google and US start-up Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) have announced a partnership to develop, deploy and scale fusion power. Google signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for 200 MWe from CFS’s planned ARC power plant, which CFS expects will begin operation in the early 2030s, in Chesterfield County, Virginia. Google also has the option to offtake power from additional ARC power plants.
The primary mission of CFS – spun-out from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2018 – is to develop fusion devices of its own design, including the SPARC tokamak now under construction. The technology that enables SPARC’s powerful magnets can also significantly improve other fusion applications. A number of companies have approached CFS for assistance given its capabilities in designing, developing, and manufacturing HTS magnets for other markets. Google has been an investor in CFS since 2021 and is deepening this relationship by increasing its stake in the company, although the financial terms were not disclosed.
“By entering into this agreement with CFS, we hope to help prove out and scale a promising pathway toward commercial fusion power. We’re excited to make this longer-term bet on a technology with transformative potential to meet the world’s future energy demand, and support CFS in their efforts to reach the scientific and engineering milestones needed to get there,” said Michael Terrell, Head of Advanced Energy at Google.
CFS expects that its ARC power plant will be world’s first grid-scale fusion power plant given its application of key advances in high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets and its execution velocity in constructing its fusion machine, SPARC, in Devens, Massachusetts. SPARC is a high magnetic field, compact version of a tokamak, and is the precursor to ARC, which is designed to generate 400 MWe.
Bob Mumgaard, CEO and Co-founder of CFS, noted: “Our strategic deal with Google is the first of many as we move to demonstrate fusion energy from SPARC and then bring our first power plant online. We aim to demonstrate fusion’s ability to provide reliable, abundant, clean energy at the scale needed to unlock economic growth and improve modern living – and enable what will be the largest market transition in history.”
