Google has entered into a partnership with Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) to advance the commercialisation of fusion energy.
As part of this collaboration, Google has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) to secure 200MW of electricity from CFS’s upcoming ARC power plant in Chesterfield County, Virginia. This plant is anticipated to begin supplying power to the grid in the early 2030s.
In addition to the power agreement, Google is expanding its investment in CFS, a company it has supported since 2021. Financial details of the increased investment were not disclosed.
The partnership also grants Google the option to purchase additional power from future ARC power plants developed by CFS.
Google Advanced Energy head Michael Terrell said: “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.”
Fusion energy refers to the process that powers the sun and stars. It is not yet commercially available on Earth.
The process involves heating light atomic nuclei to extremely high temperatures, creating a plasma where nuclei fuse and release significant energy. CFS aims to achieve a ‘net energy positive’ outcome, where more energy is produced than consumed, a milestone not yet reached by private enterprises.
CFS is leveraging high-temperature superconductor magnets in a tokamak configuration to confine and control the plasma. This approach is central to their SPARC demonstration machine, currently being assembled in Massachusetts.
The SPARC machine will serve as a precursor to the ARC plant, designed to generate 400 MW of net electricity.
CFS CEO and co-founder Bob Mumgaard said: “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.”
Last year, Google signed an agreement with small modular reactor (SMR) developer Kairos Power to deploy a series of advanced nuclear power projects across the US.
