Author: PPD Team Date: 19/12/2024
Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) has unveiled plans to build the world’s first grid-scale commercial fusion power plant, ARC, at the James River Industrial Park in Chesterfield County, Virginia.
The site, owned by Dominion Energy Virginia, was chosen after a global search for the location of the first commercial fusion plant.
CFS has entered into a non-financial collaboration with Dominion Energy Virginia, which includes development support, technical expertise, and leasing rights for the site.
Dominion Energy Virginia president Edward H Baine expressed confidence in CFS’s leadership in advancing fusion energy, noting the growing need for reliable, carbon-free power.
CFS will independently finance, build, own, and operate the ARC facility, which aligns with Virginia’s clean energy and economic development goals. The plant will generate 400 MW of electricity, sufficient to power large industrial sites or 150,000 homes. The project is expected to create billions in economic development and hundreds of jobs during construction and operation.
CFS’s fusion demonstration machine, SPARC, under development at its headquarters in Massachusetts, will produce its first plasma in 2026, to achieve net fusion energy. SPARC will serve as a precursor to ARC, which is expected to deliver power to the grid in the early 2030s.