Laser fusion startup Focused Energy raises over €200 mio in record funding round
Clean Energy Wire
German laser fusion start-up Focused Energy has closed a 240-million-dollar (206 million euros) funding round, the largest fully secured financing in the global fusion industry to date, as the company pushes to build the world's first commercial laser fusion power plant. The investment values Focused Energy at close to one billion dollars, making it the most valuable fusion company in Europe, according to Focused Energy.
Nuclear fusion – the process of fusing hydrogen atoms to release vast amounts of energy, as the sun does – has long been seen as a potential source of virtually limitless and emission-free power. But the technology remains in the research phase and cannot yet be used on a commercial scale. But recent technological breakthroughs have triggered a surge of private investments in the sector across the globe.
Germany's government has pledged more than 2 billion euros for fusion research and pilot projects through 2029, with the ambition of building the world's first fusion reactor in the country. Germany's National Academy of Science and Engineering said in March the goal was achievable by 2045, but only with a massive investment and acceleration of efforts.
Focused Energy pursues so-called laser fusion, which uses an array of extremely powerful laser beams to generate the immense temperatures necessary for fusion. Other companies, such as German start-up Proxima Fusion, use highly sophisticated magnets.
As part of the financing round, German energy company RWE expanded an initial investment in Focused Energy by 60 million euros. Focused Energy plans to build its first fusion power plant at the site of RWE's former Biblis nuclear power plant in the German state of Hesse, where RWE said it would accelerate decommissioning of existing nuclear infrastructure to make the site available for fusion use as soon as possible.
“Germany is well-positioned to take a leading global role in nuclear fusion. That is why we are prepared to further expand our investment,” RWE chief executive Markus Krebber said. Focused Energy co-founder Markus Roth told Clean Energy Wire in an interview last year that Germany is moving ahead in the global race for fusion energy, and is attracting US researchers and startups who are considering emigration in the face of the US administration’s attack on science.
EU innovation commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva called Focused Energy "a compelling example of how scientific excellence can be transformed into industrial leadership." In addition to RWE, the funding round included other investors from Germany, Europe, Asia and the Gulf region “including potential buyers of fusion energy who are prepared to finance the entire construction phase right through to the fusion power plant,” Focused Energy said.