The fusion knights

In his closing address to the ITER Private Sector Fusion Workshop, at which more than 350 experts had gathered to discuss pathways for cross-sector collaboration to accelerate fusion energy deployment, Director-General Pietro Barabaschi declared that "ITER is not a separate kingdom." Rather, he said, ITER is "in, by, and of" the larger fusion ecosystem and working toward a shared ultimate goal.

To extend Barabaschi's analogy—if ITER is part of a larger "fusion kingdom," then it can also be said that there are a number of "fusion knights" who are fighting to accelerate commercially viable fusion energy in areas outside of the laboratory. Andrew Holland, the CEO of the Fusion Industry Association (FIA), and Melanie Windridge, CEO of Fusion Energy Insights (FEI), fit this mold. Both featured prominently at the ITER workshop as heads of organizations oriented towards accelerating fusion through engagement in areas such as policy, public information, regulation, investment and industry, rather than by supporting any one concept, organization, or nation.

As CEO of the Fusion Industry Association, which describes itself as the "voice of the private fusion industry," Holland has helped steer the sector through an era of unprecedented growth. When the association launched in 2018, there were just 14 private fusion companies in existence and less than EUR 922 million (USD 1 billion) in private investment. Today, there are at least 43 private fusion companies (37 are FIA members) and more than EUR 5.5 billion (USD 6 billion) has been invested in the private fusion sector.

Holland attributes this growth to the engineering and scientific progress made by the companies he represents, as well as energy-security and net-zero incentives to develop fusion energy. He describes the Fusion Industry Association's specific mission as "driving the case to policymakers in Washington, and increasingly in governments around the world, that fusion is a viable energy choice. Fusion is something that is coming on a time scale that matters to them."

Under Holland, the Fusion Industry Association has played an essential role in creating a policy framework that has supported the growth of the private fusion sector. One key focus is creating fusion regulatory certainty. "Establishing fusion regulation separately from nuclear fission is really important, in order to create clear rules of the game for fusion investment and operations." His association has worked with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the US, as well as with the UK government, to develop such fit-for-purpose regulatory frameworks.

At the ITER workshop last week, however, Holland's focus was on another main goal for the private fusion sector, which is continuing to develop the public-private collaborations that the Fusion Industry Association has played a key role in cultivating in recent years. In speaking on behalf of the private industry Holland said, in referencing the last 60 years of publicly funded fusion research: "We know we stand on the shoulders of giants." In his view, the ITER workshop may be a first step towards finding cross-sector pathways through public-private channels to share this accumulated knowledge and know-how.

Windridge, on the other hand, is driving fusion acceleration through information dissemination. In a sense, Fusion Energy Insights (FEI) serves as a "fusion translator" between the complex, technical world of fusion science and outside investors, stakeholders, and the general public. Indeed, Windridge believes that her organization is working to overcome the very information silos that the ITER workshop was designed to overcome. "Silos exist when there is insufficient awareness of what others are doing, and insufficient communication. By offering a holistic bird's-eye view, we can help disseminate information to overcome these barriers."

Fusion Energy Insights offers a host of services directly targeting the specific needs of players across the industry, including a quarterly magazine, live online Q&A events and technical discovery sessions for members, plus specialized analyses for companies, governments, or investors in the form of targeted reports. "Our platform brings visibility to the goals and challenges that fusion companies have, in order for suppliers to understand the needs of their customers and propose solutions."

For Windridge, the ITER workshop itself was a demonstration of the demand for fusion information dissemination across the fusion "kingdom." "Meeting in person makes a huge difference, so I think it's really encouraging for everybody to be here and to see the enthusiasm in the room, to see the desire to share knowledge and for all of us to work towards the same goal."

The activities of the Fusion Industry Association and Fusion Energy Insights are complementary; for this reason, many companies are members of both organizations. However, the common belief that unites both Holland and Windridge's work is that fusion is coming, and the resulting business opportunities may be enormous. In a survey of its members published last year, a majority believes that the first fusion plant will deliver electricity to the grid before 2035, with industrialization occurring in the second half of that decade. Holland recognizes that such goals are extremely ambitious, and yet emphasized the importance of the private sector setting difficult targets. "Our organizations have to embrace the spirit of 'why can't we move faster'? Find out what the physical limit is to how fast you can move, and then move at that speed." Windridge concurs, arguing that these ambitious targets create an even greater urgency for information dissemination in order to spark "a collective effort to drive the energy transition forward through the development of fusion" through the kind of collaboration being explored during ITER's three-day workshop.

Follow these links to find out more about the Fusion Industry Association and Fusion Energy Insights.