Businesses Explore the Potential Benefits of Fusion Energy Technology
Fusion Energy Advances Towards Commercialization
Fusion energy, long considered a dream of scientists, is making significant strides towards becoming a reality. A growing number of startups are exploring different approaches to fusion, with billions of dollars in investments pouring in.
One of the most promising developments comes from Thea, who is working on a prototype stellarator system. This system is expected to produce tritium, with a subsequent system providing on-the-grid energy by the 2030s.
The fusion industry is still small but rapidly expanding. Nearly 50 companies have sprung up in recent decades, many within the past 10 years. The majority of these companies are based in the United States, with a few in Western Europe, China, Japan, Canada, and elsewhere.
Xcimer Energy, a fusion startup, is using a laser-powered fusion technique, inspired by the Livermore lab's accomplishment that fusion is indeed possible. Xcimer's prototype will be online in 2026, and the company aims to have its fusion pilot plant up and running in the mid-2030s.
Most of today's fusion reactors require tritium, a limited resource, for their operation. However, Thea's stellarator system and others like it aim to overcome this challenge by producing their own tritium.
In 2022, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory reached a fusion-energy milestone by producing a self-sustaining reaction with a net-positive amount of energy, approximately 0.1% of a single U.S. home's monthly energy use. Lawrence Livermore researchers are aiming to grow this amount in the coming years.
Commercial fusion startups are aiming to build reactors in the near future capable of generating hundreds of megawatts. Helion Energy, for example, recently started building a major US fusion power plant in Washington state, projecting at least 50 MW output, aiming for power delivery by 2028.
The optimism and increasing investment suggest that fusion is transitioning from a near-perpetual research dream to a viable technology that may help decarbonize the energy grid and heavy industry in the coming decades. Fusion energy promises secure, limitless, and clean energy with zero greenhouse gas emissions during operation, making it a potentially transformative solution to reducing climate change impacts.
Although widespread consumer impact will be delayed until after 2030, fusion energy's industrial adoption could significantly reduce emissions from currently carbon-intensive sectors. Nine fusion startups have already raised more than $100 million each, thanks to growing investment over the past couple of years.
The payoff of fusion would be cheap, abundant, carbon-free energy with a fraction of the radioactive waste or risk of nuclear power. Scientists and investors believe a different version of fusion is possible and the future of energy.
Timeline:
- 2025–2030: Fusion power will not yet be widely available to the public, but several startups will operate prototype and demonstration fusion plants. Helion Energy aims to deliver fusion-generated electricity to Microsoft by 2028, and Commonwealth Fusion Systems plans net-positive energy operation of its SPARC prototype by 2026, followed by a pilot plant in the early 2030s. Startups will focus on proving reliability, cost-effectiveness, and durability in this phase.
- 2030–2040: Early commercial fusion reactors will supply electricity to limited sectors such as tech campuses, military sites, and industrial complexes. This marks the start of gradual industrial adoption of fusion power.
- Most fusion companies remain confident fusion electricity will reach the grid before 2040, with 84% expecting commercial grid delivery by that time and 53% by 2035.
Fusion Startups and Industry Funding:
- Over 50 fusion startups are globally active, with more than half based in the US and others in Europe and Asia-Pacific.
- The industry raised about $2.64 billion in private and public funding in the year leading to July 2025, with total global investment surpassing $9.7 billion.
- Major startups with over $1 billion each in private funding include Helion Energy, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, and TAE Technologies. Helion recently started building a major US fusion power plant in Washington state, projecting at least 50 MW output, aiming for power delivery by 2028.
- Investors are diverse, spanning deep tech venture capital, major energy companies (like Chevron and Shell), sovereign funds, and public sources.
[1] Fusion Industry Association. (2022). Roadmap to Fusion Power. Retrieved from https://fusionindustry.org/roadmap/
[2] Fusion Industry Association. (2023). Fusion Investment Report. Retrieved from https://fusionindustry.org/investment/
[3] Ars Technica. (2023). The race to fusion energy: A guide to the startups and their tech. Retrieved from https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/03/the-race-to-fusion-energy-a-guide-to-the-startups-and-their-tech/
[4] Helion Energy. (2023). Helion Energy announces major US fusion power plant. Retrieved from https://www.helienergy.com/helium-announces-major-us-fusion-power-plant/
[5] The Verge. (2023). Fusion energy is moving closer to reality. Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/23/22995045/fusion-energy-startups-investment-funding-climate-change
- The fusion industry, with a significant number of startups investing billions of dollars, is rapidly expanding and moving closer to commercializing science-based technologies that could drastically alter the energy landscape.
- One of these startups, Xcimer Energy, is developing a laser-powered fusion system, inspired by the Livermore lab's accomplishments, with a prototype scheduled to be online in 2026 and a pilot plant aimed for the mid-2030s.
- While many fusion reactors still depend on the limited resource tritium, innovative companies such as Thea and a few others are concentrating on producing their own tritium, overcoming this obstacle in environmental-science research.
- Fusion energy, with its promise of limitless, secure, and clean energy, zero greenhouse gas emissions, and the potential to decarbonize both the energy grid and heavy industries, has attracted massive global funding, amounting to over $9.7 billion by the year leading to July 2025, according to the Fusion Industry Association.
