FUSION | FORGING PARTNERSHIPS could potentially be introduced under EIT InnoEnergy,
to support and accelerate innovation, research, and commercialisation efforts. Under an InnoEnergy grant a maximum of 45.55% of
costs can be funded, with matching contributions required from partners, which again can take the form of in-kind contributions. Turning to F4E, the report considers that it has a crucial
role in the EU fusion ecosystem, particularly linked to ITER, but also broader objectives and policies. The authors argue that the platform provides the basis for it to play an expanded role in industrial development or even developing a demonstration power plant. The report notes that F4E already employs more than 400 people within an administrative, financial and technical infrastructure, as well as boasting close ties with the industry. As a result, it could be well positioned to play a role in a future EU PPP given funding could be channelled directly to industrial innovation.
The objectives of F4E include DEMO and thus the scope
covers the full range of enabling technologies for magnetic confinement-based fusion, the report says.
Building PPPs It is clear that the EU wants to encourage innovation to maintain its competitiveness in the global fusion sector but to do so will require additional funding instruments. Analysis of the existing landscape identifies clear gaps and the report notes that a PPP-type mechanism instrument is the preferred measure to bridge those gaps. However, alongside EU-wide approaches, individual nations are also looking at PPPs to boost fusion funding. Last year, for instance, Germany launched a new fusion
Below: Helion Energy’s fusion reactor is a pulsed laser design
research funding programme with the goal of building the country’s first fusion power plant by 2040. With the first phase focused on technologies, components, and materials with a view for readiness by the early 2030s, the second phase aims to integrate those into a power plant design. Open to multiple fusion technologies, including both magnetic and inertial confinement, the programme is based on collaborative public-private partnerships with research institutions, universities, and industry. While Germany has decisively stepped away from nuclear fission it plans to increase fusion research funding to more than €1bn by 2028 with an additional €370m to be invested over the next four years and up to €100m a year available to fusion companies. Backed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the plan will also use the Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation (SPRIND) to establish the Pulsed Light Technologies GmbH subsidiary to administer some of the funding for laser innovation and inertial fusion.
The report also argues that, as an alternative to CPEP,
F4E Innovation Partnerships and the EIT-KIC InnoEnergy scheme, a completely new instrument could also be considered. For example, the authors say, one option could be for the EC to take on the role of founding a PPP vehicle directly or create a separate legal entity for the purpose of creating a PPP, as modelled by the German SPRIND programme. Alternatively, the report considers that other models from the US or from the UK could be emulated. However, this is not recommended in the report due to the need for urgency and the flexibility of existing instruments to be characterised in the same way as US and UK programmes. Overall, the report concludes, it is much easier and faster
to use an existing mechanism which include many of the benefits that a new instrument could bring. Meanwhile, in the US the 2024 Appropriations bill
will increase fusion R&D funding to $790m through the Department of Energy’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences. The funding package includes significant growth in funding for PPP, with up to $40m more going to the programme which had received $25 million in each of the last two budgets. This PPP programme is currently investing in eight fusion companies. Separately, inertial fusion research received $690 million through the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Collectively, the US is pumping $1.48bn into fusion this year, a record. More recently, the US has forged another partnership, this time working with Japan to accelerate commercialisation of fusion technologies. The bilateral agreement aims to build on fusion initiatives from both countries, such as Japan’s Fusion Energy Innovation Strategy, and will focus on a range of measures including opportunities for shared access and possible shared development of fusion research facilities, as well as harmonisation of regulatory frameworks. The growing commitment of the private sector to fusion
research, development and commercialisation is also worthy of note. According to the Fusion Industry Association’s Global
Fusion Industry Report in 2023, not only is the number of private companies investing in fusion growing, but overall investment went up again too. Their analysis found that the fusion industry has now attracted over $6bn in investment, an increase of $1.4bn on the previous year. The report shows that 27 companies increased their funding over the year with total fusion investment up by 27%. The FIA notes this took place during a period of inflation pressures, interest rate increases, and even bank failures, although much of this funding went to early-stage companies and in broadly smaller amounts. However, the report notes that funding for fusion companies totalled $6.2 bn of which $5.9bn came from the private sector and just $271m came from public funding sources. Even so, their industry survey found that 25 companies think the first fusion plant will deliver electricity to the grid before 2035, representing a clear opportunity for the industry. There’s no doubt that a robust and competitive industrial base is needed to support the development of commercial fusion devices and to achieve that goal in a timely way will require efforts from the private sector as well as state actors. Either as explicit partnerships, as outlined by the EC and elsewhere, or by engaging with the industry in other less structured ways to foster commercialisation endeavours, the public and private have to work together to make fusion a viable energy resource. ■
44 | May 2024 |
www.neimagazine.com
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