US Fusion Power Company Signs $1 Billion Deal With Italian Giant Eni

Global energy technology giant Eni and the US-based Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) have signed a more than $1 billion power purchase agreement (PPA), expanding their partnership to commercialise fusion power.

Under the deal, Eni will acquire decarbonised power from CFS's 400 MW ARC fusion power plant in Virginia, US, which is expected to connect to the grid in the early 2030s. This was the second purchase agreement that Commonwealth has signed in three months for its first grid-scale fusion power plant.

In June, Commonwealth signed a PPA with Google for 200 megawatts (MW) of electricity from the Virginia plant.“The agreement with Eni demonstrates the value of fusion energy on the grid. It is a big vote of confidence to have Eni, who has contributed to our execution since the beginning, buy the power we intend to make in Virginia,” said Bob Mumgaard, co-founder and CEO of CFS.

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“Our fusion power attracts diverse customers across the world - from hyperscalers to traditional energy leaders - because of the promise of clean, almost limitless energy,” said Mumgaard.

Fusion power is a proposed form of power generation that would generate electricity by using heat from nuclear fusion reactions. CFS is collaborating with Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Plasma Science and Fusion Center to build Sparc, the world's first fusion device that produces plasmas that generate more energy than they consume, becoming the first net-energy fusion machine. Sparc is carbon-free and limitless fusion power.

Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni, said this agreement marks a turning point in which fusion becomes a full industrial opportunity.

“As energy demand grows, Eni supports the development of fusion power as a new energy paradigm capable of producing clean, safe, and virtually inexhaustible energy. This international partnership confirms our commitment to making fusion energy a reality, promoting its industrialisation for a more sustainable energy future,” said Descalzi.

Eni's operations include oil and natural gas production, renewables, and biofuel.

Bob Mumgaard said Eni, which has a history in oil and gas sector and is in the energy transition, the oil-producing Gulf countries are in a similar state.

"They (Gulf and Middle Eastern countries) understand energy and the scale of that. They understand the scale of delivering it, what it can mean for society, and the scale of the economy that it brings. They also recognise that there's a limit to that. But leaning into new technologies, new areas of business, we can all see them do that, and it's very exciting,” Mumgaard said in response to a query from Khaleej Times during the press conference.

He added that fusion naturally can fit into that framework of the Gulf and Middle Eastern economies as the fossil-fuel-driven economies fuse with new technologies such as artificial intelligence.

“We haven't yet seen them (GCC and Middle East countries) have a fusion strategy, or make very large fusion investments or fusion research labs. But, given where they are in their energy journey, that's something we might see (it happen). We've seen that out of Japan, Germany, the UK, and the US. I would expect it to keep going,” he said.

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