Fusion Industry Association Announces Launch
Will advocate for the interests of the growing fusion industry
November 9, 2018
Today, the Fusion Industry Association, a new group representing the interests of the private fusion industry, announced the launch of its website (www.FusionIndustryAssociation.org) and the beginning of a campaign to grow support for fusion power. The association and its 16 member companies are working to transform the global energy system by putting fusion energy on the grid.
The Fusion Industry Association is a registered non-profit organization composed of private companies working to commercialize fusion power. The Association advocates for policies that would accelerate the race to commercial fusion energy. The fusion industry and its individual companies are eager to partner with governments to advance the shared goal of fusion innovation.
Altogether, over $1 billion in private capital has been invested in private companies with transformative approaches to fusion. They share the goal of developing economically viable commercial fusion power as soon as possible. Private companies are aiming to streamline the pathway to a fusion power plant, while working in cooperation with longstanding government-supported fusion sciences programs.
Why now?
In the last few years, rapid technological advances have combined with an unprecedented allocation of private capital investment into start-up companies trying to commercialize fusion power. Fusion energy will revolutionize the world’s energy supplies. Fusion is not science fiction. Fusion energy is now routinely achieved at laboratory scale around the world. If we can demonstrate the scientific feasibility of fusion, and then rapidly deploy it at a commercial scale, we can solve our energy problems – environmental, geopolitical, and availability.
Membership
The Fusion Industry Association is a member-driven educational organization open to private companies striving to develop economically viable commercial fusion power as soon as possible. Currently it has 16 full members, all of whom are privately-funded companies striving to the goal of commercial fusion power. In addition, it has 5 affiliate members working to support the growing ecosystem. All members can be seen at: https://www.www.fusionindustryassociation.org/members
Goals
The Fusion Industry Association has three strategic priorities for accelerating fusion energy:
1. Partner with Governments for Applied Fusion Research: The private sector should have access to the pathbreaking research that governments have pursued for decades. Likewise, the public sector should be able to benefit from exchanges with private scientists working on fusion.
2. Drive Financial Support: Sustained financing is needed to accelerate fusion from early-stage research to demonstration levels of energy production. Public-Private Partnerships that include government support can multiply private financial support by reducing risk.
3. Ensure Regulatory Certainty: Fusion research, development, and deployment should be subject to appropriate regulation when experiments are built and sited.
Key Quotes:
Andrew Holland, Executive Director of the Fusion Industry Association, said: “I have been advocating in favor of fusion energy for over seven years. The involvement of private companies has changed the game. With the creation of the FIA, we are poised to grow this into a new industry.” Holland has worked on fusion with the American Security Project since 2011, where he will also continue is his role as COO of ASP.
Bob Mumgaard, CEO of Commonwealth Fusion Systems said: “The establishment of the Fusion Industry Association is another important milestone on the path toward clean limitless fusion energy. Along with other fusion companies and the broader ecosystem, we are moving from basic science to burgeoning industry, on a well-marked trail blazed by other high-impact industries.”
Christofer Mowry, Chief Executive Officer of General Fusion, said: “The Fusion Industry Association is emblematic of the success private investors have had in leading fusion into the global energy marketplace. General Fusion is excited to be joined by other mature technology companies and startup ventures in fostering policy initiatives that seek to articulate a decarbonized energy future which includes fusion.”
Michl Binderbauer, Chief Executive Officer of TAE Technologies, said: “Fusion stands to transform the energy world and beyond. With continual breakthroughs in recent years, the time is right for diverse approaches in this industry to come together, identify common priorities, and advance shared goals. Today makes an important step forward toward that vision.”
Maximus Yaney, Chief Executive Officer of Fuse Energy, said: “The formation of the Fusion Industry Association represents a tremendous step forward for the fusion energy ecosystem as it transitions into a veritable sector ripe for private capital seeking the next major frontier in energy.”
