FUSION | FORGING PARTNERSHIPS
Joining forces for fusion
To bring fusion onto a commercial footing will require both state bodies and private enterprise to join forces and boost investment in innovation. A new European Commission report explores some of the key mechanisms to build public private partnerships, but that is not the only model to accelerate fusion beyond the laboratory
A RECENT VISIT TO THE Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics prompted European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to emphasise the need for a European fusion alliance, public-private partnership programmes, and a clear regulatory framework. Her words reinforced the growing sentiment that fusion is an energy technology that will soon finally deliver on its long-held promise as a viable clean energy resource. “We will indeed need a lot more energy in the future.
We need it to be clean and we need it to be safe, and nuclear fusion can provide that. So, we need to invest in this and, above all, to advance the research,” said von der Leyen. She went on to note that while fusion is one of the most complex tasks that science has ever faced, Europe is a global leader in fusion research. “We want to keep this leadership position,” she said, adding that Europe needs to invest more in fusion research to do so. “We still need to significantly improve the framework
conditions so that we can become faster and more effective. We need to promote more public-private research partnerships,” she said, noting that a lot more investment is required to fund technology companies helping to fill gaps. “Secondly, we also need to encourage industry to invest, as it is already doing, but to invest even more in
fusion technology.” von der Leyen stated that the Capital Markets Union must also be advanced to make it possible for companies to gain access to growth capital. “When we have deepened and completed the Capital Markets Union, there will be €500bn more in investment opportunities per year,” she said, before adding: “We need to advance fusion technology, but we also need to make sure that it can make its way out of the laboratory onto the market and become a better business case,” she said. Although the European Union already supports fusion
through the Euratom research and training programme and through ITER – with €5.6bn earmarked for this international project in the current EU budget – von der Leyen’s comments follow on from the publication of a new independent report the European Commission (EC) has published and which analyses the possibility of fostering public-private partnerships to encourage investment and innovation in fusion technology. The report notes that, up until now, EU fusion financing
primarily featured public bodies investing huge sums in big projects. At the same time, it says, industry has tended to take a much more passive role. The authors note that the private sector only becomes active once contracts for procuring services or components have been issued.
Above: €5.6bn is earmarked for the international ITER project in the current EU budget Source: ITER 42 | May 2024 |
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